Fears
by LovesDragons
Summary: Hartley isn't the only Rathaway affected by the particle accelerator. His sister was to, and her ability isolates her and makes her incredibly dangerous. Eiling wants her ability, and how will team Flash react to them? What happens when the reverse flash gets involved. Starts after Crazy for You, AU afterwards, Hartley/Cisco, Felicity/OC, soulmates
1. Chapter 1-Questions

_**This is my first time doing anything in the Flash world, so please please review. This is Hartely/Cisco, because their conversations are funny and I think they have chemistry. The colors of the soul marks come from Lithoniel's Light of my Soul, take a look, it's a pretty cool story. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Barry left the criminal handcuffed to a telephone pole waiting for the police, whose sirens sounded only a block away. He was running back to STAR Labs with congratulations in his ears when he skidded to a stop. He ran back a bit-no mistake, another scream came from that warehouse.

"I heard screaming." He said in response to Caitlin's question. He crept into the warehouse and flashed onto the balcony.

"Please! Make it stop!" The voice begged.

In the center of the warehouse a man in army clothes was strapped to a chair, a bright light shinning a little over his head. He was sweating and shaking viciously, his eyes blown wide in fear, pupils so small they were barely noticeable.

"Unfortunately, you had a hand in kidnapping the only person who can stop this, so you'll just have to wait for it to wear off."

The woman had her back to the man and by extent Barry and she was shrouded in shadow, making it even harder to see. She was leaning over a long table, fiddling with something.

"Talk to us Barry. What do you see?" Dr. Wells's voice came in over the coms.

"There's a man tied to a chair in the middle of this abandoned warehouse sobbing and a woman I can't see well. The guy looks terrified."

"Can you tell us anything about her?" That was Caitlin.

"Dark hair and clothes, I can't see anything else. The man's wearing army clothes. Hold on, she's coming back."

The man's sobs had stopped. The woman walked around to face him, but her head was held low and Barry still couldn't see her face. The man leaned his head far back, as if he was trying to avoid her gaze.

"I'm only going to ask this one more time. I will know if you lie, and we can keep at this until you tell me the truth, so. _Where is my brother?_ "

"She just asked him about her brother. Seems he's missing." Barry murmured.

"Okay, let's wait a minute. See what happens." Wells said.

"General Eiling has him. Base 29." The man panted. "He wants to use your brother to bring you to him. He thinks you will help him if he threatens your brother."

"Will Eiling hurt him?"

"Apparently Eiling has her brother. She seems worried." Barry had heard the woman's voice quiver softly in her question.

"Bad for her brother."Cisco muttered. Barry nodded to himself. He felt anxious, worried, more so then usual.

The soldier grinned. Seemed he wasn't that cowed. "Yes."

The woman backhanded him so hard the man had to spit a tooth out. He groaned. "Will he kill him?"

"The General wants him to make weapons." The soldier gasped. His eyes seemed to flicker towards her face and he turned away with a gasp. "Please, no more."

"Hmm." The woman walked back to her table, putting what ever she had been messing with into the pockets of her trench coat. Then she picked up a thin syringe and turned back to the man.

"Guys I think she's going to kill him!" Barry whispered.

"Stop her then!" Caitlin spoke.

Before Barry could move the man was talking. "Are you going to let me go?"

The woman laughed. "Yes." She slid the syringe under his fingernail and ignoring his yelp. "Oh shut up. You hurt my brother. I'll let you go alright; I make no promises that you'll survive the night. In fact if you do, I may have to come back." With that she untied the man and dragged him out the door.

"She's dragging him outside, she just injected him with something." Barry said quickly into the coms. "She said that if he survives the night she might have to come back. What should I do?"

"Well this woman clearly doesn't want her victim to survive but from the way she's talking what ever she gave him doesn't guarantee death, it may not even be deadly on its own." Well's murmured. "Any idea what she gave him?"

"No but she left the syringe, I could bring it to you and you can try to analyze it."

"Bring it here then run back and follow them, if we're lucky she won't be able to get far." Caitlin said.

"I'm on my way." Barry flashed to the floor, grabbed the syringe, and ran as fast as he could back to the lab. He dropped it in Caitlin's hands and raced back out.

"Guys I can't find them!"

"Keep looking." Wells said. He frowned, curious. Whoever this woman was she was certainly clever. She had brought her victim into an abandoned area of the city, interrogated him, rather effectively it seemed, vanished with in the no more then thirty seconds it took Barry to get here and back, and, if he was right, found a way to kill that would not be traced back to her. He just wondered what would come of it.

҉

* * *

Alyssa watched the ally as the man stumble out on to the sidewalk. He was drunk now, and this was a busy street. If she was lucky, he'd walk in front of a car and die. If not, she may have to find another way to finish him off.

His death wasn't completely necessary. It would prevent Eiling from hearing more about her to soon, and perhaps show him that she meant business. It was him she really wanted to hurt. Him and Dr. Wells.

She pulled out her phone and typed in a familiar number. She waited, impatiently for the ringtone and smiled when she heard the familiar voice on the other end.

"Felicity it's me."

"Alyssa! Why are you calling so late? Oh it's not late, it's just getting dark earlier and I'm still adjusting-did that sound weird?"

Alyssa cut her soul mate off before she could keep rambling. "I need you to do something for me Felicity. My brother's in trouble. He's been captured by General Eiling and I'm going after him." She cut off Felicity before she could start protesting. "Don't argue. There's no time for you or Oliver to come here. You and he are all I have in this world, and I will not lose either one of you. I don't want Eiling to hurt him more then I know he already has." She had always been able to sense when her twin was in trouble or pain; he had been able to do the same. Since the particle accelerator explosion their connection had increased, allowing them to share feelings more clearly. She could feel pain and fear from him, and dreaded the thought of feeling nothing at all. "Just listen, please. If I haven't contacted you by ten o-clock tomorrow morning, you can bring in your team. Just please don't involve the Flash. My brother made a mistake involving them, and I don't trust Dr. Wells."

"What if you die?" Felicity's voice sounded broken.

Alyssa hesitated and closed her eyes. "You'll know. Look after my brother." She refused to accept the possibility that he might die. She would not allow it.

"Alyssa-"

"Goodbye Felicity." She turned off the phone, then turned it around and pulled the battery out, crushing it beneath her foot before tossing it all into a dumpster. She may not have her brother's genius, but she was thorough.

Alyssa made sure her sunglasses were safe in her pocket then got on her motorcycle and drove off to rescue her brother.


	2. Chapter 2-Resuce

_**Just please tell me what you think. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 2: Rescue:

"I can't find them. Either of them!" Barry paced in front of the desk at STAR Labs.

"Do you think the woman was a meta?" Cisco asked, his eyes focused on the computer. "She did disappear really quickly."

"It's possible that she may just have had a car waiting outside and drove fast." Dr. Wells said, watching Barry. "I'm more interested as to why the soldier she was interrogating was so scared."

"Well at least we know she's no fan of Eiling." Barry flopped in to a chair, still in his suit. "The guy said Eiling wanted her brother to use as bait and make weapons, but why does he want her?"

"And which one of them is more valuable?" Wells interjected.

"I've got it!" Caitlin hurried into the room. "The substance in the syringe was ethanol. It's in most alcoholic beverages."

"So she basically made the guy drunk?" Cisco asked.

"Pretty much." Caitlin frowned, tapping the blue mark on her wrist as she did when she was puzzled. "Why though?"

"She said 'I make no promises that you'll survive the night.'" Barry replied. "If she left him in the city, drunk…"

"Problems could easily arise, if he's lucky he'll wake up with a hangover missing his wallet, if he's unlucky he could get hit by a car." Wells leaned back in his chair. "I'd guess she's hoping for the latter. Rather clever, even if she does rely partly on chance. No one looks twice at a drunk run over by a car, and if he doesn't die a large dose could still damage his memory so he might not remember his interrogation clearly."

"I looked hacked into the files at Base 29." Cisco suddenly announced. "The security for their files is good but I can get into the video feeds for their cells."

"Do they really call them cells?" Barry asked, coming around to stand behind Cisco.

"Yeah, hang on." His eyes narrowed.

҉

Alyssa crept through the compound, sunglasses on. Her brother had helped her make them; they hid her dangerous eyes from the world but could be adjusted so that she'd still see well in the night.

She slid through the compound, a syringe held carefully in one hand. The sedative was strong, a small dose enough to keep a healthy man asleep for an hour. Much quieter then using her eyes, which often times resulted in screaming. Not subtle.

She ran her fingers along the wall and stopped in front of a door. Her nerves sang. Sliding the syringe back to its place inside her armguard, she pulled a small machine and a set of lock picks from one pocket. The tiny machine hacked the electrical component of the lock, the picks took care of the rest, and she was inside in thirty seconds. She saw the occupant and paled slightly.

"Hartley."

҉

"That's definitely Hartley." Caitlin said, peering onto the screen over Cisco's shoulder.

"From the looks of things Eiling isn't to happy with him." Barry muttered. It was true. Hartley was slumped over in his chair, hands tied behind him. The video was black and white, so they couldn't tell whether the stains on his clothes were water or blood.

"We need to get him out of there." Cisco said. "Even Hartley doesn't deserve to be in Eiling's hands."

"Fair enough." Wells murmured. "Be careful Barry." He said louder as the speedster pulled up his mask. "Eiling is clever and might have come up with something that will work on you."

"Got it." Barry zoomed out.

Cisco frowned. "That's odd."

"What?"

"Someone just entered Hartley's cell." He replied, eyes focused on the screen as the woman rushed to Hartley and examined him before quickly cutting the rope around his wrists and helping him stand. "She's getting him out."

҉

"Alyssa." Hartley muttered, looking up at her. She held back a gasp, her brother supported a black eye and a cut along his face. Her ribs twanged in sympathy and she suspected he had taken a beating elsewhere to. "Show me-"

She pulled off her glasses as she rushed to his side, and he met her eyes without fear. "I was worried." He said at last as she examined his face, eyes scanning her with a brother's care, from her bright eyes to her wrist, marked with green, to her boots. "Are you alright?"

"You've just taken a beating and you have the nerve to ask if I'm alright?!" Alyssa hissed, moving to cut the rope from his hands. "I'd hit you if I wasn't worried about your head! Can you stand?"

"Maybe." He nearly fell trying to stand and she caught him quickly. "No."

"I noticed." She pulled one arm over her shoulder and slid a syringe from its place on her wrist before handing it to him. They walked slowly down the hall way; Hartley was unsteady having twisted his ankle and hit his head. "Sedative. The neck is best, you don't need much."

Hartley eyed the armguards of metal and leather that encircled each forearm. He could see the raised area where the syringe fit, and with the guards amass of cylinders would be surprised if she had not secreted other creative mixtures away. "How are the armguards working?"

"Pretty well, could still use a little tweaking. You'll have to take a look at them when we get home."

"That won't be soon." The twins looked up. Eiling filled the hallway with several soldiers with weapons, from the looks of things though they were more for intimidation then killing.

"Want to bet on that Eiling?" Alyssa asked, her eyes finally meeting those of a soldier's.

He screamed, falling to the ground. She met the gaze of as many other soldiers as she could, eyes pulsing with hatred, and they fell to screaming, or froze in terror. She should have looked at Eiling first.

When he fired the gun she had only enough time to shove her brother away before the bullet hit her.

That was when the Flash arrived.


	3. Chapter 3-Escape

_**So this one's a bit shorter, I'm still undecided on Oliver's soulmate so if anyone has any ideas I'm open to suggestions. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

"Guys that's the girl from the warehouse!" Barry said as he zoomed through the room, pulling whatever guns where still being held from the soldiers. Eiling stumbled and fell over a body trying to move away, and Barry saw Hartley pull the woman up.

"The woman who went to Eiling's base to rescue her brother," Wells started.

"Hartley has a sister?" Caitlin asked. "Did anyone know this?"

"I don't think so." Wells replied. "Barry we need to bring them here-"

A shot echoed over the coms. At the base Barry saw a bullet strike the strange woman in the shoulder. She gave a brief cry, but the soldier who had fired seemed to freeze, staring at her. He trembled violently, the gun dropping from his fingers.

"I don't suppose you'd mind taking care of Eiling, hmm." Hartley bit out, raising an eyebrow at the Flash.

"How can he get beaten up and still sound like a dick?" Cisco grumbled. Barry smiled and ran to Eiling.

While the Flash was containing Eiling, Alyssa shook off her brother and walked quickly to one of the computers in the room. She put a flash drive in the computer, made sure it was downloading, than helped Hartley walk out the door.

Barry left Eiling and the rest of the soldiers secured with zip ties around their wrists, subconsciously taking note of the colors he saw, than ran after the Rathaways. "How does someone who got shot in the shoulder manage to ride a motorcycle that fast?"

"Adrenalin." Caitlin replied.

Barry hummed, stopping in front of the motorcycle, causing the woman to make a sharp turn to avoid hitting him. "Get out of the road Flash!" She yelled.

"Sure you don't want a little medical help? And I think Hartley has a cell in the accelerator waiting." Barry replied, flashing in front of them again. He tilted his head. "Why are you wearing sunglasses at night?"

The woman growled and stepped off the motorcycle, walking towards him. She wasn't wearing a helmet, but Hartley, who had been sitting behind her, was. She wore a long jacket but he could see something poking from her sleeves, something metal.

"What did you do to the solders?"

"You ask a lot of questions, Flash." Her voice was soft, gentle. It creeped Barry out and he could feel his anxiety mounting. Her lips curved into a smile.

"You're nervous. I can tell. I could always tell, even before this." She waved a hand over her face and took a step forward, so that she stood within arms length of Barry. "The question isn't what I did to the soldiers." She came closer. "It's what Wells did to me."

She moved fast and Barry, caught by surprise, moved to slow. One arm wrapped around his neck, the other shoved a syringe deep into the flesh. Barry groaned and went limp.

"Barry? Barry!" Cisco yelled into the coms. They all heard the woman's hiss of pain before she spoke.

"As for you Dr. Wells, don't ever get my brother hurt again. If you do, I swear I will make ruptured organs feel pleasant." She growled before releasing Barry and walking back to her motorcycle. The scientists at STAR Labs glanced nervously at each other.

Alyssa warned her brother to hold on tightly and prayed that she would be able to stay awake until they got home.

҉

Most people, when their soulmate tells them not to come after them when they are in danger will do exactly the opposite. Felicity Smoke was no exception. After Alyssa hung up and Felicity failed to trace her phone, meaning it had been broken, she went straight to their lair.

"My soulmate's in trouble." She announced.

Oliver and Diggle looked up. They had never actually met Felicity's soulmate; all they knew was that she was clever, good with computers, a therapist, and that the two women were happily in a platonic relationship, though Oliver slightly doubted the last. It wasn't that there weren't plenty of platonic soulmates, there were, but there was something in the way Felicity spoke about Alyssa, something in her eyes that time she had visited Sterling City and Felicity had taken two days off, that made Oliver think Felicity wished the green mark on her wrist could turn blue.

Felicity, hearing nothing from the two men, continued. "She just called saying her brother was in trouble and she was going to rescue him and something about General Eiling and that he was hurt and then she said goodbye and now I can't trace her phone so she probably broke it-"

"Calm down." Oliver said, moving forward to put his hands on Felicity's shoulders. "Deep breaths." Felicity took a great, shuddering breath and closed her eyes, fighting back tears.

"Did she say anything about contacting you again?" Diggle asked.

"She said that if she hasn't contacted me by ten tomorrow she's either captured or-dead." Felicity's voice shook. Alyssa was her soulmate and only woman she'd ever love. "If she hasn't called by then I could ask you guys for help but not to involve Barry's team. She said to look after her brother if something happened to her."

Oliver gently turned her face towards him and smiled. "Felicity, I think it's time we met you're soulmate."


	4. Chapter 4-Learning about Alyssa

_**I promise I'll get to a full description of Alyssa's ability soon, I'm just not sure when to put it. Some gets said here though. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

"Alyssa Rathaway." Dr Wells read from the screen in front of them. "The twin sister of Hartley Rathaway, graduated with a doctorate in psychology but also studied engineering and anesthetics, an interesting combination. Published a book called Fear: It's Dangers and its Uses. Worked at Johnson Therapy but quit about a month after the particle accelerator exploded. Unfortunately they don't say what she specialized in."

It was the next day. The team was sitting in the cortex of STAR Labs, eyeing the picture of Hartley's sister. The twins had the same slightly wavy brown hair, but Alyssa's eyes were brown, not grey, and she didn't wear glasses. She smirked at the camera man, the same smile she had given Barry last night.

"When I was around her I felt, nervous." He said. "Anxious. I don't even know why. And when she looked at the soldiers they screamed, became terrified. I think she's a meta."

"Certainly sounds like it." Wells said. "A metahuman who can manipulate fear, that's a dangerous ability. And if she's anywhere near as clever as her brother, I'm sure she's come up with some effective ways to use it."

"You wouldn't need to be terribly clever to know it could be a weapon." Cisco interjected.

"I visited Alyssa Rathaway's employers." Joe announced, entering the cortex. "Had to show my badge to. They wouldn't tell me much, but they didn't feel that it was too much of a confidentiality breach to say that she worked with people who had phobias that seriously interfered with their lives, anxiety disorders, panic attacks, PTSD…that sort of thing."

"Sees she has a thing for fear." Cisco said, eyes on the picture. "The Fear Doctor…"

"Really Cisco?" Caitlin asked.

"Point, I'm not sure that one's good." He frowned thoughtfully.

Joe smiled and turned back to Dr. Wells. "She left a little more then a month after the particle accelerator explosion. Seems she canceled her appointments for three weeks, citing a family emergency. Then she announced that she was leaving, but took the time to ensure that all her patients her given to therapists she thought would help them most. She was very thorough about it to."

"Did she say why she was quitting?" Caitlin asked.

Joe shrugged. "Apparently all she told them was that she didn't think she would be able to help them any more. Nothing else. They told her though that if she ever wanted to return they'd have a place for her. Said she was very good at her job, and that she'd be missed."

"Not much like her brother then." Cisco muttered under his breath.

"That didn't stop her from taking two bullets for him." Barry said. They looked up at him.

"I thought you said she was only hit by one?" Caitlin asked.

Barry shook his head. "Looking back on it, Hartley was helping her up when I arrived; I think she might have gotten hit twice. The way he looked at her…" He sighed. "Hartley's definitely a dick but he loves his sister. No doubt about it."

Joe looked at the scientists. "What are you going to do?"

"There isn't much we can do." Dr. Wells replied. "They're clever. They would have made it difficult to find out where they live, and we have no way to find them. For now, it might simply be best to keep an eye out."

The rest of the team nodded, though it was clear from their faces that they weren't happy about it. Cisco rubbed the patch of white skin on his wrist, looking at the pictures of the twins and thinking. Suddenly he frowned.

 _Is it just me or were Hartley's eyes bluer last I saw him?_ He thought, before shaking it from his mind.

* * *

҉

Felicity glared at Alyssa, who was lying on the couch and wisely remaining silent. For a usually nice and occasionally silly blond, Felicity could be scary.

"Get up." She glared harder. "And I will make sure you don't touch another computer for a month."

Alyssa winced. Her skill and love for computers rivaled Felicity's own. A month with no computers would be torture. "Fine."

Felicity smiled satisfied but still worried. Alyssa had called her when she got home, home being a two-bedroom apartment she shared with her brother. They didn't worry much about Eiling finding them as he had found Hartley at the hotel he'd hidden at for the Dr. Wells escapade. Better safe then sorry, but back to her worry. Alyssa had taken two bullets, one to the shoulder and one to her lower stomach. She was lucky it hadn't pierced anything valuable. Meanwhile, her brother, whom Felicity had met a couple times before this, had a black eye, two broken ribs, a minor concussion and several bruises. He was asleep now in his bed, Alyssa had taken care of him first and had been beginning to care for her own injuries when team Arrow had arrived. Felicity had refused to let her move form the couch where she'd been sitting ever since.

"Why did you not want to involve the Flash?" Oliver asked, eyes fixed determinately above her head.

Alyssa winced, but met Felicity's gaze. The blonds' blue eyes softened and she sat next to her soulmate, her eyes still holding Alyssa's.

"Hartley tried to kill him."

Oliver jerked, glaring at her. "Excuse me?"

"After the accelerator explosion, we were so angry." She whispered. "Hartley suffered head trauma and was in utter agony, he had to have implants to hear and end the pain. And I, I rely on being able to talk to people Oliver. I used to be able to talk my way out of anything, convince people, help them… But if I can't meet their eyes, if every second around me causes them anxiety, how can I do that? I was furious for his sake, and he was furious for mine."

"I allowed my anger to control me." Hartley came into the room, leaning on Diggle for support. His face was grey, at first Diggle hadn't wanted to let him up but he insisted. He could hear Alyssa, and wanted the comfort of his twin's presence.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Alyssa moved to sit up but Felicity pressed her shoulder down. Unfortunately it was her injured shoulder, and she gave a pained yelp as Felicity began apologizing. Hartley gave a ghost of a smile as Diggle set him in a chair and he met Oliver's gaze.

"I was a fool. I wanted revenge on Harrison, someone I had trusted, who turned around and stabbed me in the back. I was in pain and I allowed my hatred to control me. Look at my sister, Mr. Queen." Oliver's eyes flicked briefly to Alyssa before darting back to Hartley. "You see? You can't look at her. No one can once they've met her eyes. Few can stand to be around her for long. She's been cast out of an area she thrived and we hate Harrison for it."

"It's ironic really." Alyssa murmured, looking at her brother. "We had thought that of the two of us, I was the most likely to kill anyone. And while we'd still like to see Dr. Wells six feet under, the Flash was a bystander. And I was so wrapped up in self-pity, and trying to contain this power of mine that I let my brother try to hurt an innocent. I have no excuse."

"I regret it." Hartley whispered. "I never wanted to become a killer."

Oliver sighed. In a way, he understood Hartley's reaction. Wells had hurt the person he held most dear, and Hartley had tried to retaliate in kind. It just so happened that the person he targeted was Oliver's friend. "Are you going to do something like this again?"

Hartley shook his head before clutching it and groaning. "I think I'm going to be sick." Diggle grabbed a bucket for the young scientist to throw up in and Alyssa winced.

"Enough of this gloom. Let's watch Star Trek!" Though her brother would never admit it he did like science fiction, as long as it had a steady base of possible accuracy, and Star Trek had inspired much of space exploration today. The TV was turned on and they settled down to watch, Alyssa holding her soulmate's and her twin's hand, and wishing that she could not see the continued tension and anxiety in Oliver and Diggle


	5. Chapter 5-Yellow Eyes

_**This is short, Alyssa's full ability. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

"I admire you Oliver." Alyssa said.

Diggle and Felicity had both decided that the twins were not allowed to move at all this day and were cooking, Hartley was dozing in his chair, a book half-open in his lab. Oliver was sitting in a chair mending a hole in his hood, and Alyssa had been eyeing the computer.

"Why?" The man asked, looking at her. He couldn't meet her eyes, she had replaced her sunglasses and it bothered him slightly that he couldn't tell whether she was meeting his eyes or just staring in his general direction. The thought of her meeting his gaze without her glasses however had him dismissing that bother as inconsequential.

"Because you didn't go right into a panic when you met my gaze." Alyssa replied evenly. "You didn't freeze or scream. Well, you sort of went still like you were caught in a memory and your breathing increased, but you recovered very quickly."

"You turned away."

She snorted. "Yes, but it takes people a few minutes after catching my eyes even briefly to recover, and that's when I'm not trying. Of course, this likely means you have experience confronting your fears." She tilted her head, sunglasses still fixed in his direction. "Just how bad were your island trials?"

"Bad." He whispered, turning away at last.

"Did you see them, before you came out of it?" There was nothing in her voice but genuine curiosity and he remembered that Alyssa was a therapist.

"Yes."

She hummed, finally turning away. "My brother and I had to find ways to test my abilities, usually just by going out in public or meeting the eyes of muggers at night. I think the ones that see things, because not everyone does, are the ones with either vivid imaginations or those who have had traumatic experiences in the past. Almost all of my patients."

Oliver felt curious despite his reluctance. "What exactly do you do?"

"I thought you got a good idea when you met my eyes." The faint amusement in her voice was overshadowed by bitterness.

"They were yellow." Oliver recalled. When he and his team had entered, Alyssa had not been wearing her glasses, Felicity just sort of burst in and Alyssa had met their eyes before it was two late. Diggle alone had escaped, being behind Oliver at the time. "But I think what you can do is a bit more then scaring people."

"Not really." Alyssa shifted on the couch. "Anxiety, nervousness, they aren't much different then fear. Lesser degrees of fear certainly, but the amygdala influences both of them and other parts of the brain that deal with one may deal with the other. I'm not a biological psychologist, I couldn't go into details. When people meet my eyes, they are terrified. Ever seen an arachnophobe in front of a spider? Instant terror. It's a bit like that, results in gasping and increased heart rate. When I'm scared myself or very angry, their reaction intensifies, and it lasts much longer. They panic. Depending on the person they react by freezing or dissolving into panic, which if they're holding a gun can result in it going off, which is purely why this is not the first time I've been shot." She grimaced. "Though last time it wasn't this bad, the bullet just grazed me."

"You haven't explained why being around you is so, disconcerting."

"Uncomfortable might be a better word." Alyssa said reflectively. "Or just go ahead and say I make you nervous. For some reason my very presence is enough to set people on edge. Dangerous for people who already have anxiety issues or other such problems. There is no off switch to my ability, I can't be around people without them feeling anxious. Believe me if I could, I wouldn't have left Johnson's. As for Hartley and Felicity," she smiled in the direction of the kitchen. "They seem to be special cases. Hartley is my twin and was hit by the explosion after me; we think because of that the dark matter released may have made him immune to my already made abilities. And by meeting people's eyes, he can make whatever the fear I give them stop, and lessen the anxiety they feel around me. Actually, I think the only reason you're still on edge is because you've met my eyes, and this is your way of reacting to a threat, being on high alert. As for Felicity, I don't know. She's my soulmate, maybe that made her exempt somehow."

"Dinner's almost ready!" Diggle called from the kitchen. The two started, then relaxed.

"It scares me." Alyssa spoke quietly, lost somewhere in her own mind. Oliver saw Felicity come to lean in the doorway. "I get a bit of a rush out of it, scaring people. Making them scream. Sometimes I'm scared I'll open my eyes one day and walk around with out my glasses just for fun, just so that I can watch them panic. I know how easily people can turn bad. I'm scared this will turn me into a monster."

"Alyssa!" Felicity rushed to the woman on the couch and hugged her tightly. "Look at me." She removed the sunglasses and Oliver flinched despite himself. Felicity though met Alyssa's eyes fearlessly. The irises where large and yellow, bright, the black pupil standing out forcefully against them. In most people they ignited terror, but Felicity held them easily. "You aren't going to be a monster. I'm not going to let that happen and neither is Hartley, once he wakes up he'll probably say you're an idiot for thinking that."

"She's right." Hartley watched them through hooded eyes, a faint smile on his face. "And you really should kiss her Felicity. Alyssa isn't straight."

Alyssa gaped for a moment. Felicity seemed stunned, but recovered quicker and kissed Alyssa quickly, nearly missing and hitting her nose in the process. One of Alyssa's hands came up and wound gently in Felicity's blond hair.

"Finally." Hartley said, eyeing everyone. "Can't believe it took them that long to figure out the other was lesbian. And I hope your cooking is better then hers Diggle. Alyssa could burn water."

 _ **The amygdala is part of the brain, it primarily influences negative emotions like fear.**_


	6. Chapter 6-Meeting Alyssa

_**Sorry, I've been meaning to write this for a while but exams are starting and this month has been stressful. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

"No no no" Cisco yelled.

"What?!" Caitlin looked up from where she was tending to Barry's latest injuries. Stopping a bank robbery he had not managed to brake in time and slammed into a wall, which resulted in bruising and a dislocated shoulder. Again.

"Someone is sending a virus to the S.T.A.R Labs computers." Cisco said, typing furiously. "I'm trying to stop it but they are very good."

The next hour was filled with furious typing and muttered Spanish curses.

Barry looked over at Cisco. The young engineer was glaring at the computer, though he had finally stopped typing. "What's up?"

Cisco sighed. "I saved most of the files and data, including the ones about you and the other metahumans. At the moment though, all other files have been deleted, I can't get on, and I have a feeling that once I can the dam thing is going to be really slow." He rubbed his forehead and stood casting one last scowl at the computer. "I need coffee."

"Why don't we go to Jitter's?" Barry asked. "It's near lunch time anyway, and you look like you could use a break." Cisco shrugged and agreed.

"So how good are they? The person who sent the virus." Barry asked as they drove in Cisco's small car to Jitter's.

"Very good. Felicity-level good. The only reason I saved so much is because I got to it right was it was being sent and even then it's causing trouble." Barry raised an eyebrow. If Cisco was saying that, the person was talented. They finished their drive in silence. Neither expected what they found when they arrived at Jitter's.

"Felicity?" Barry asked, walking up to the blond girl who was just ordering. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"Barry!" Felicity grinned and hugged both him and Cisco. "It's great to see you both? How are you?"

"Dr. Rathaway!"

The boys whipped around. A man was standing by one of the tables, embracing a shorter woman tightly. A woman with brown hair, sunglasses inside, and the name Rathaway.

"That's Hartley's sister!" Cisco hissed, watching as the woman greeted the man quietly and sat down, quickly engaging in conversation.

"You know Hartley?"

"I could ask the same." Barry muttered. "How do you know him?"

Felicity bit her lip. "You'd better order." She said as a woman, probably new as Barry didn't recognize her, gave the blond two travel coffees and two muffins. The boys ordered the same and turned to Felicity. "I know Hartley because I know his sister. Alyssa's really nice, well, she's nice until someone hurts Hartley. They're very close."

"Hartley's a dick, to put it nicely." Cisco said bluntly, not taking his eyes off Alyssa.

"Oh he is." Felicity agreed. "But he loves Alyssa, as do I. So he tries to be civil."

"Wait a second." Barry said, picking up the coffees and motioning for Cisco to get the muffins. "You and Alyssa?"

Felicity blushed slightly, than turned over her wrist so that Barry could see the blue mark.

"Wow."

"Yep. Come on." She walked towards her soulmate and the boys followed.

"But why did you leave?" The man asked plaintively. "You helped me, I know you were helping others, and there aren't that many therapists who are as good as you Dr. Rathaway."

Alyssa smiled sadly. Jake had been on of her first patients, a veteran with PTSD and a psychosomatic pain in his arm. He told her he got a dull ach there now and then, but ha had actually been shot and was otherwise fine. He had left her about a year after coming, and greeted her every time he came across her in town.

"A recent development interferes with my ability to help." She said gently. "Believe me, I wish I could have stayed." He was starting to get edgy now, she could tell.

"Well, I'll be going then." Jake stood, shaking her hand. "And congratulations by the way. You deserve it." He nodded towards her blue soul mark and left, whistling cheerfully.

Alyssa smiled warmly. Even with the sunglasses Barry thought it made her face brighten, giving her a very different look from the one she'd had last night.

"I got your coffee." Felicity grinned, setting the mug and lemon poppy seed muffin in front of Alyssa and sitting next to her. "And I brought friends." She turned to Barry and Cisco, who were standing a bit uncomfortably. "Sit down!" They sat.

"Alyssa Rathaway." Alyssa said, eyeing the two young men. Friends of Felicity's, she knew the names of everyone Felicity knew in Central City and all of them were connected to S.T.A.R Labs in some way.

"Barry Allen."

"Cisco Ramon."

Alyssa's eyes sharpened. "So _you're_ Cisco." Then there was that smirk Barry had seen. "Pleased to meet you."

Cisco sipped his coffee. Random, and pretty, women telling him that was not something that happened often. Meaning never. Alyssa seemed to sense this, because her smirk turned warmer and she said "My brother spoke highly of you, when he wasn't commenting on how unprofessional he thought your clothes were."

"Hartley? Spoke well of me? Are we talking about the same person?" Cisco was shocked.

"Yes." Alyssa replied simply. She tilted her head in a slightly quizzical fashion. "You rigged his hearing aids." Cisco fidgeted uncomfortably. "I'm not mad, it was clever and I would have done the same in your shoes, though be assured had the circumstances been anything else I would be much less accepting." She finished her muffin. "Why don't you finish all your coffee and come to our apartment? Hartley has an apology to give, and I want you to understand him better." She gave a fond but exasperated smile. "My twin isn't nice, I can't argue with that, but he's not an evil person. He does regret what he tried to do to your speedy friend."

Barry and Cisco glanced at each other, than nodded. "Can I ask you one question first?" Barry asked, picking at his chocolate muffin. "Why do you wear sunglasses?"

Alyssa's smile turned sad in an instant. "Because I cannot meet someone's eyes without inducing terror."

The boys were quiet after that. They finished their coffee quickly and together the four left Jitter's. Felicity and Alyssa got on a motorcycle while Cisco and Barry followed the girls in their car to an apartment building in the nice part of town.

Cisco noted the relief he felt when they left Alyssa's presence and the jump in his nerves when he stood near her again. "Your abilities don't just work from eye contact do they?"

Her smile was bitter. "Hartley was right, you are clever. My presence is enough to make people anxious. Hartley's presence nullifies it, lucky for you." She walked up the stairs.

The twins' apartment was on the top floor, it a red-carpeted hallway. Felicity once joked that it was the same shade as dried blood, so that you could have a killing here and no one would notice. Alyssa unlocked the door, survived the empty room, and glared.

"Hartley!" Something crashed in the kitchen and she stalked towards it.

"Damn she can yell." Barry muttered as they slowly followed her in. Felicity peered around the room, then jumped when Hartley darted out and sat in his chair.

"You do not pull off innocent well." She said, staring at him. His lips tilted in his familiar slight smile, one reserved for Felicity and his sister.

"I certainly hope you can bake, Felicity." He replied dryly. "Otherwise you'll be stuck without forgiveness anytime you do something she finds stupid."

"You can be so stupid." Alyssa said, reentering the room with a raspberry muffin in her mouth and another in her hands. "But you're forgiven. This time." She pointed at him threateningly. Hartley held up his hands in the universal 'I surrender.'

"Well we can see who wears the pants in this family." Cisco muttered.

Hartley heard and looked up. For a moment his eyes met Cisco's, and the room seemed to still. Alyssa beckoned Felicity forward and the two women leaned against the wall near the tiny kitchen, Barry subconsciously took a few steps to the side, and two long-time rival met each others gaze unflinchingly.

Hartley broke the silence first. "I'm sorry."

Barry and Cisco blinked. Alyssa had said her brother had an apology to give, but this was unexpected. Hartley continued slowly. "For giving you a concussion. Not for repaying you for messing with my hearing aids." The two engineers almost smiled at that. Hartley's gaze shifted to Barry. "And I apologize for trying to kill you Flash."

"How did you-"

"I researched everyone who was still associated with S.T.A.R. Labs." Alyssa interrupted. "It wasn't a great leap. And I'm good at recognizing voices."

Cisco sat down gingerly on the sofa, still meeting Hartley's eyes. "I'll take that apology-you're still a dick though."

Alyssa and Felicity laughed, Barry grinned, and Hartley half-smiled. It was a smile, Cisco belatedly realized that he had seen Hartley wear when he was pleased with something on the accelerator, or once at the labs, he had caught Hartley watching him with that same half-smile. He shook away the memory. "What are you working on?"

"Armbands for Alyssa." Hartley handed him one. They were made of a light metal and had leather padding on the insides, cylinders around it. He could see where one might put a syringe, and where a smooth button was that could release said syringe into her hand. Their where three of these large cylinders, and three smaller ones that faced towards the wearer. "The smaller ones were sticking; I had to fix it and made some alterations while I was at it."

Cisco saw where a thin flap of leather might be lifted. It was well concealed, and on the inside where thin lock picks. He grinned. "Nice."

Alyssa pulled them out of his hands and sat at their table by the window. Swiftly she removed syringes from her case and slid them into the correct cylinders. She then took a small computer chip and slid it in with the lock picks.

"What's that?" Felicity whispered.

"Everything we have on people we hate." Alyssa replied softly. She looked at her brother and Cisco. "Those two need this. I want my brother happy and he admired Cisco, I saw that in his rants though it would be like pulling teeth to get him to admit it." She smiled, her brother was as stubborn as she was and even less likely to admit it. Then she looked out the window. "Oh no."

"What?" Hartley and Felicity spoke at the same time, each picking up on Alyssa fear.

"Eiling."

 ** _A psychosomatic injury/illness is caused by a mental factor such as stress, internal conflict, or past trauma. John Watson's limp in the latest Sherlock is an example._**


	7. Chapter 7-Green

_**Happy holidays to all! Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 7: Green:

Alyssa kissed Felicity. The blonde's lips were soft and she gently wound her fingers through Alyssa's brown hair. It had developed into a habit of hers; one Alyssa found she did not mind. She pulled away with great reluctance. "You need to get out of here. All of you."

"But-"

"How soon can you get them away Flash?"

"Depends on where we're going." Barry said with a frown. "I could take you to the Labs"

"No." The twins spoke at the same time. Hartley continued. "You aren't too bad Flash but we still have some unresolved issues with Wells."

"I could ask Joe." Barry said. "Iris moved out and we have a guest room so that's two and maybe he'd let you stay there for a bit?"

The twins and Felicity looked at each other, Alyssa quickly deciding. "At least we'll have a bit more time. Barry, you need to get everyone there now."

"Whoa whoa whoa you say that like you aren't coming." Felicity said hurriedly as Alyssa slipped on the garmbands.

The brunette pulled off her glasses, eyes down. She kissed Felicity swiftly and hugged her brother. "Don't-" he began.

"I love you both." she whispered. "I'm holding off Eiling. Barry you get them out of here now. There are two sets of stairs; I think the soldiers will only use one." She left before they could object, but Cisco caught a glimpse of yellow as she did.

"Cisquito?" Hartley's voice was quiet, but Felicity could tell he was scared for Alyssa. She knew him well enough to know how he was feeling most of the time.

Cisco trembled trying to breathe deeply. "I'll be fine." He gasped. He didn't feel fine. He felt terrified. It wasn't near enough to paralyze him, more like how he felt when he saw a bee, but it was making it very hard to think.

Barry picked him up. "Guess I'm taking you all to my place." He said, then ran.

He took a lucky guess at the stairs and was at his place in a matter of seconds. He set Cisco, still trembling, on the couch and took off again, this time grabbing Hartley.

"Go a little slower, he has a concussion." Felicity worried and Barry nodded before running, slower than his normal speed but still pretty fast. It was surprisingly tiring, carrying people.

Hartley groaned as Barry set him next to Cisco and held his pounding head in his hands. "Get the girls." Barry didn't need telling. Off he ran.

Hartley looked at Cisco. The engineer was shaking, head in his hands. He remembered Cisco had been closest to Alyssa when she left and cursed in his mind. "Cisco." He pulled the engineer's head up, letting his hands frame his face. "Look at me."

Cisco opened his eyes and was met with blue. Calm and hope eased through him, chasing away the remaining fear. He blinked. "Did your eyes get bluer?" He coughed.

Hartley smiled and let go. "No problems here it seems. And yes, we believe so." Hartley's eyes had once been blue-grey, like fog, but now there was noticeably more blue in them, as if someone had shone blue light on a patch of said fog. "We think it's balancing out Alyssa's yellow…" He trailed off; looking in shock at his wrist, where between his sleeve and his palm was a faint line of green.

Felicity appeared before them, at least with Barry's speed that's how it seemed. She was holding a backpack and Hartley's gloves, as well as her laptop bag and Alyssa's case.

"I just hope Barry brings Alyssa back soon I'm going to get some food are you to alright?" Felicity rambled, too worried to stop herself, looking around for the kitchen and finding it, walking away. The two men carefully turned to Cisco's wrist, painted green.

Barry ran back to the apartment building and flashed up the stairs where Alyssa held Eiling. He stopped short when he got there.

Solders lay on the stairwell, some unconscious, some bleeding from bullet wounds, others quaking in fear. Alyssa herself sat on the top of the stairs, fighting for consciousness. A gun lay near her feet. From the looks of things she had decided she couldn't reach enough of them, and, desperate, changed tactics. Barry noticed the still bodies and swallowed hard.

"Guess I am the most likely to kill after all." She stood shakily, staring at Barry, who frowned. Her eyes were half closed, her skin pale, a bruise forming on her cheek, and there were flecks of blood on her clothes. As he watched, she reached up and pulled a round piece of metal from a graze on her shoulder. "I don't think I like it."

She fell forward; Barry caught her. It was only then he realized that she was bleeding from a gash on her thigh.

He ran home, rushing through the door and up the stairs to the guest room. He heard the rest of them following him as he set her on the bed, sped out, and returned with a towel that he folded under her leg to prevent the blood from reaching the sheets.

"Oh my god." Felicity gasped, rushing to the bed, Hartley right behind her.

"I can take her to the hospital-" Barry began.

"But it would let people know we're around, possibly before anything could be hacked." Hartley replied, focusing on his twin. "Do you have a first aid kit?"

Barry flashed out and returned with the kit. It was very well stocked, courtesy of having a cop for a father with a former best friend who was a doctor. Hartley took it and rifled through it, cutting away the pant leg around the wound.

"Knife?" His hands were steady; his face a mask, only the faint tremor in his voice and blatant fear in his gaze gave him away.

"I think so." Barry replied, watching Hartley carefully stitch the gash closed.

"You've done this before?" Cisco asked.

Hartley shook his head. "No, but I used to sew tears in my clothes. It's relaxing. And Alyssa dabbled in basic medicine, so I learned a few things."

Felicity looked up briefly, then returned to her watching of Alyssa. Cisco's phone rang.

"Oh crap." He muttered, answering. "Yeah." He spoke quietly with the person on the other end before hanging up. "Barry that was Caitlin. Flash stuff."

"Right." Barry speed out of the room before returning. "We need to go, I brought pizza and put it on the table, there are drinks in the kitchen, there's medicine in the bathroom if she needs ibuprofen or something, help yourselves, and call Cisco if you need anything." Hartley nodded once to so he heard, focused on his task. Felicity looked up at Barry.

"Stay safe."

"I will."

"Hartley." Cisco wasn't sure what caused him to speak up. "Alyssa will be fine, soon." He finished kind of lamely, but Hartley looked up, seeming surprised.

"I hope so." He murmured. Barry picked up Cisco and ran back to S.T.A.R. Labs. Meanwhile the man known as Dr. Wells watched the visuals from the cameras he had in the West's house and frowned.

"This could be trouble."


	8. Chapter 8-Thoguhts

_**I would have had this up sooner but we were visiting my grandparents and I can't update on my phone (or at least I don't know how). But 2 chapters for you readers, Enjoy and please review!**_

 _ **Remember the colors of the soulmarks come from Lithoneil, thank you!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 8: Thoughts:

Hartley Rathaway, Dr. Wells thought, had always been brilliant. In the future he had become a supervillain, the Pied Piper, but he had never heard of a sister. Maybe in that timeline she was dead before they ever met. Alyssa's power was clearly dangerous, though he suspected what worked on Bivalo might work on her as well. Hartley Wells may be able to manipulate, it was playing a game of chess with a master, a challenge, one he would have to be very careful with in order to win. But he knew nothing of Alyssa's chess skills. She was a wild card, one he knew nothing about, and this gave him an incredibly bad feeling.

Cisco, between calling out tips to Barry as he apprehended a set of jewel thieves, what was it with them tonight, this was the third, was thinking about soulmarks. Everyone had them, a band about an inch wide on the underside of the right wrist, invisible from the top. At birth they were white, not pale but more like some one had painted over the skin. Skin-to-skin contact with one's soulmate turned the mark green. It would stay green forever if the relationship remained platonic, but if it did not, the mark would turn blue. If someone's soulmate died, whether or not they knew them, the mark would turn black, with a faint line of white around it. He had never thought that he would find his soulmate in _Hartley Rathaway_ of all people.

The more he thought about it though, the more he thought it may not be completely horrible. Hartley had always been a jerk to him, but most of the times his comments had pushed Cisco to improve, and improve he had. Hartley was a challenge, and if he had known Hartley found him a challenge as well he might have felt even better. They were always pushing each other, looking back at it there had been times when their banter had become almost playful.

Cisco did wonder that they had managed to go so long without skin-to-skin contact, though he supposed with the mutual dislike between them he shouldn't be that surprised. Even while fighting outside of S.T.A.R. Labs when he was looking for Ronnie they had somehow managed to touch only clothes. If their was a deity watching over soulmate meetings, he must have been pulling his hair out at the lack of touch.

He had absolutely no idea what to do about the fact that his long-time rival was his soulmate. He had a feeling though that Alyssa, when she found out, would want to talk, concerned as she was with her twin's welfare.

Hartley watched his sister and her soulmate sleep. He remembered when Alyssa first introduced him to Felicity, at a science convention a college. The twins had gone to different schools but they visited each other as often as possible and Hartley had wanted to see his sister. He had not thought much of Felicity at first, but he had come to realize that the blonde, while certainly an airhead at times, was smart and brilliant with computers, something that, he would admit, he and his sister were both attracted to. Alyssa loved a challenge, loved having someone who could match her. And Felicity had matched Alyssa's skill with computers. More then that, she made Alyssa smile, and laugh, something Alyssa did easily enough to be sure, but he had never seen her smile so much with anyone else aside from him. He might have been jealous if not for the knowledge that it could hurt Alyssa.

He grew to like Felicity on his own; it wasn't just him being civil. Alyssa had told him it was what it was like to have friends, something he had never really had, not counting his twin. He was infinitely glad the two had completed the bond.

His thoughts turned to his own soul bond. Of all people he had never expected _Cisco Ramon,_ though as he thought over the matter it seemed to make sense. He knew full well that like Alyssa he loved a challenge, and aside from Wells no one had matched him like Cisco. The young engineer was brilliant, something he had only ever admitted by accident when ranting to Alyssa, which she had found infinitely amusing. He was interested, though not romantically, in Cisco once he realized that the other was more then a Star Wars meme shirt, which was still ridiculous, it was why he had tried to challenge the other so much. And damn, had it been _fun._ He grew to look forward to seeing Cisco at the Labs and watching his reaction to Hartley's teasing, had laughed to himself when the other made a good comeback. This he had never told his sister, though he had a feeling she knew anyway. He supposed he and Cisco could have worked well together, if he had not put a wall between them so quickly.

He heard two someones moving up the stairs and froze, his hand creeping towards Alyssa's armbands, which were closest to him. He didn't recognize the large man who suddenly burst in, but from the way he turned to Barry in the doorway this was his house, which meant-he frowned. He had mostly recovered from the concussion, but his head still hurt often and it made remembering small details difficult. He thought that Barry had called him Joe.

Barry finished with whatever he had been saying and the man turned back to him, surveying, Hartley, than looking at the bed, where Felicity had woken up and was staring at them. "Hi Detective West!"

 _Detective. Well crap_.

Felicity moved from the bed, Hartley saw Alyssa's eyelids flicker and turned to Barry, hating that he needed to ask this. "Do you have any sunglasses? She's waking up."

"Why does she need sunglasses?" Joe asked.

"Alyssa can't look people in the eyes without them panicking, it's really not cool, oh and she's my soulmate and injured, so could you please not throw us out?" Felicity said with a wide-eyed, pleading expression that almost made Barry laugh.

Joe turned to Hartley and crossed his arms. "So you tried to kill my son?"

Hartley winced. Way to get off on the wrong foot with someone who looked like he'd quiz his daughter's boyfriend with a gun in his hands and all intents to use it if he disapproved. "Um, sorry?"

Alyssa snickered and everyone looking at her. "We need a calendar. Hartley said 'um.'" she laughed and Hartley glared.

"I'd like to hit you, but you're my sister and injured besides." He said dryly, making her laugh harder. "How are you feeling?"

"Not dead, thankfully. Sore. My leg really hurts." She poked the graze on her shoulder and hissed. "Now that hurts. Ouch. And I'm hungry."

Hartley turned back to the detective, who was watching him carefully. "Barry explained the situation to me. You can stay if you want, though we should try to find you all a place of your own at some point." Barry and the girls grinned, Hartley nodded. He was exhausted.

"And I've got food." Cisco popped up from behind Barry, reminding Hartley oddly of a rabbit. He resisted the urge to laugh. "You three," he looked at the twins and Felicity, "haven't eaten yet. No longer acceptable."

Joe chuckled. "The other room is across the hall, divvy it up as you see fit. Careful with crumbs. Come on Barr." The two left.

Cisco put a pizza on the bedside table, carefully avoiding Hartley's eyes. "Hope everyone likes chicken."

"Definitely." Alyssa replied, pushing herself up into a sitting position. Hartley rushed to help her, brushing against Cisco as he did so. The pair shivered. Hartley saw Alyssa glance at his wrist, the green not completely covered by his sleeves, then to Cisco, whose jacket slipped as he moved to show more green. Her lips curved into a smile.

"Please don't do anything." He whispered, in German for extra safety.

"What kind of a sister would I be if I didn't?" She whispered in the same language, a worrying smile on her lips. She raised her voice, switching back to English. "Mind taking the other room Hartley?"

He looked at her suspiciously, though he certainly understood the desire to be alone with her soulmate. "Of course not."

"Why don't you and Felicity take a look then? Make sure you can find your way to the bathroom and all that." She smiled, glancing at Felicity at the same time.

Hartley could almost see the exact moment Felicity understood that Cisco and Hartley were soulmates and that Alyssa wanted to talk to Cisco alone. "Sounds great." The blonde smiled before kissing Alyssa lightly and tugging Hartley out of the room. "Come on." Hartley had no choice but to let Felicity lead him away and leave Cisco with his meddling sister.


	9. Chapter 9-Talks

_**Again please review, I really want to know what people are thinking.**_

 _ **Remember the colors of the soulmarks come from Lithoneil, thank you!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 9: Talks:

Alyssa scrutinized Cisco, which would have freaked him out if he had known. She put on the sunglasses Barry had brought right after her brother left, not wanting to scare her brother's soulmate.

"This is not your week is it?" Cisco said, handing her a piece of pizza, than winced. "Sorry, that came out bad."

Alyssa laughed. "You remind me of Felicity. And no, it really hasn't been a good week."

Cisco smiled, taking a bite of his own pizza before he realized they were alone. "Where's Hartley?"

Alyssa smiled. "Felicity's talking to him. We're going to talk." Cisco gulped. Alyssa was scary, he realized, even without the fear-power. "I'll make this quick, you'll start getting edgy soon." She took a moment to gather her thoughts.

"My brother can be a bit possessive; though in this case territorial might be a better word. He reacts badly to anyone he views as a threat to something that he regards as his. It could have put him on very bad footing with Felicity if we had not already been such good friends when they met. Dr. Wells," her fists clenched and his heart leaped. "Sorry. Dr. Wells sort of took Hartley in, told Hartley he was accepted, something he did not get from our parents. At first, he thought you might be vying for his position at S.T.A.R. Labs and Hartley would never allow someone who wears a statement shirt to do that."

"Then you had to go ahead and surprise him, and he was interested. From the way he talked I'm guessing he made you feel like you were never good enough?"

"Always." Cisco glared and Alyssa raised an eyebrow.

"Now I know you're edgy, Cisco if you weren't good enough do you really think Hartley would have bothered? He wouldn't have given you a second thought! And I know he thought you were an interesting challenge, because he rants if I get him started and he spent an hour ranting about you the day you met!"

Cisco blinked. "Seriously?"

Alyssa snorted. "Believe me, if Hartley rants for an hour you're either brilliant and he hates you, or brilliant and he really wants to see how you respond to his taunts." She smirked. "He got a kick out of hearing your comebacks, though God forbid he admit it. To proud, it's nearly impossible to get him to admit he made a mistake. You challenged him Cisco, and if there is one thing we know, it's that my brother and I can never resist a challenge."

Cisco sat back, thinking. Alyssa watched him for a moment before speaking. "Just give him a chance. I love my brother, and you've grown on me already. I think you two could have figured this out a lot sooner if Hartley hadn't put up a wall so fast, what exactly did he say? I got the feeling he'd left something out when he told me about you."

"That I would only last for a week max."

Alyssa groaned. "Okay, that was just him being stupid." She pushed the pizza box towards him. "Go talk to him."

"What, now?!"

Alyssa raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Better talk soon or you'll let distance grow. Besides, talking has distracted you, but you're going to want to leave me pretty soon." Cisco realized she was right, he had been on edge for a while now and the urge to leave was strong. He picked up the pizza box and turned to leave. "Hey! Give me another piece first." Cisco smiled and held the box out to her.

"I caught I glimpse of your eyes before you left."

Alyssa hesitated. "Oh. I'm sorry."

"No I'm sorry, some of the meta's got these amazing abilities but it looks like more of a burden for you."

She smiled gently. "Thank you, now get going."

҉

"So are you and Cisco soulmates?" Felicity asked the minute they were in the other bedroom. Hartley nodded and she squealed. "Oh that's cool. You two are really similar-"

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure he would disagree." Hartley shot back, flopping onto the bed.

"Oh but you are." Felicity said seriously, sitting down next to him. "It's not just that you're both brilliant with anything computer. You both care a great deal about the people closest to you and you'd both go to desperate measures to keep them safe. You just, react to the world differently. Cisco's nice and jokes a lot, you scowl at everyone and you really aren't nice," Hartley snorted. "and I don't mean that in a bad way you're just kind of rude-"

"I know full well that I'm not nice Felicity." Hartley sighed. "Cisco's to, kind. To good. Soulmate or not, I've given him no reason to like me much less to be my friend."

Felicity paused, thinking. "You know, before we first met, Alyssa told me 'my brother's not very nice, but if you give him time he'll warm up to you. He's got a good heart under all that.' I admit I doubted that at first, you were barely civil when we met, but like she said you got friendlier. I call you my friend."

Hartley frowned and sat up. "Really?"

"Well yeah." She beamed at him. "Like I said, you and Cisco are both good people, you'll be good together. Just try to act around him like you act around Alyssa and me. Besides, how many people do you think you'll meet who can keep up with you?" She almost skipped out the door. "I'm going to start a computer war with Alyssa, good night!"

Hartley smiled and flopped back on the bed.

"Pizza?"

Hartley shot up, tried to stand, and tripped over the long blanket, falling to the ground. He heard Cisco try to repress laughter. "Go ahead, laugh." He grumbled. "I'm sure it looked hilarious from that angle."

A hand came into view and Hartley looked up into Cisco's brown eyes. "It did look pretty funny." He admitted, grinning.

Hartley smiled as he took Cisco's hand and, as the other man began to pull him up, tugged, so that Cisco fell forward, nearly crushing Hartley in the process.

"Alright, that could have been thought out better." Hartley grunted.

"I suppose that was your definition of a joke?" Cisco asked, picking up the pizza box from where he'd set it and offering it to Hartley.

"No that was my sense of humor." He replied. He would not admit that he'd eaten nearly half that slice in one bite. He was starving!

"For a long time, I wasn't sure you had one." Cisco said. Hartley looked up and met Cisco's eyes squarely. He sighed and finished the pizza before replying.

"My sense of humor involves challenges." He said. "Watching people fall into traps I set, watching them try to figure out how to pull themselves out, I like that. You, you were such a challenge, Cisquito. You have no idea how many times I was laughing inside at something you said. I'm honestly sorry if I made you think you weren't good enough, you're brilliant, brilliant enough for me to keep playing, you kept coming up with new things, you kept playing, kept pushing back. It was so much fun; I almost never wanted to stop."

"Almost?" Cisco asked, tilting his head. Hartley flushed slightly and took another piece of pizza.

"You're adorable when you do that."

"I'm not adorable!"Cisco sounded so indigent that Hartley snorted.

"Even more adorable when you start nerding out, it's cute." Cisco scowled at him. "Almost because I thought you were cute, I worried that if I got attached," he grimaced. "You know my parents didn't take to me being gay to well. I did have a boyfriend in college, they hounded him until he left. We weren't very close, more experimental for both of us, but they still made things uncomfortable for both of us. They threatened me before they disowned me, part of me was worried they'd do something if I was ever serious about someone." He smiled. "Actually, I believe that's when Alyssa first cursed our parents, now that was funny."

"Seriously?" Cisco was smiling again. He smiled so much, it made Hartley feel warm inside.

"You should have seen their faces. Alyssa cursed them to the moon and back, then they disowned us and she posted porn on the company's website."

Cisco laughed so hard he rolled over and tears ran down his face. "Wait, wait." He gasped, looking up at Hartley. "Was it homosexual or heterosexual?"

Hartley blinked then stood up and walked swiftly to Alyssa's room. "Alyssa, when you messed with father's company's website was it homosexual or heterosexual pictures?"

Alyssa looked up briefly from where she was typing on her laptop. Felicity, typing furiously opposite her, didn't acknowledge him. "Gay and lesbian of course. I thought it fitting-hey!" She returned to her laptop and Hartley struggled not to laugh as he returned to Cisco, who was now sitting on the bed.

"Homosexual." Cisco started laughing again and Hartley gave in when he sat down next to him.

They laughed for a long time; Hartley had forgotten just how good it felt. "I'd forgotten the details." He said when he finally got his breath back. "She was so proud of herself then, I couldn't really blame her. I'd only wished I had seen their faces. Felicity went crimson when we told her that story."

Cisco chuckled, than tilted his head again, in that way Hartley thought was so cute. "I was talking to Felicity earlier; she said something about wishing it hadn't taken her and Alyssa so long to complete their bond,"

"Ah." Hartley shifted so that he was facing Cisco and leaning against a pillow, the headboard was starting to get uncomfortable. "For some reason it took Alyssa a long time to realize that Felicity was lesbian and vice a versa. Honestly if I had known it would take them that long I would have arranged something sooner."

Cisco smiled then moved so that he was sitting next to Hartley again. "Trying to say something?" The scientist asked.

Cisco shrugged. "I'm a tactile person. And you're comfortable." He leaned against Hartley. "Funnily enough, I don't think I've ever heard about soulmates who weren't sexually compatible, even if they stayed platonic."

Hartley hummed in agreement. It really was comfortable sitting with Cisco leaning against his side like this. Almost instinctively he began running his fingers through the black hair. Wait a minute, "So you're-"

"Bi actually." Cisco smiled. "Surprised you didn't notice. You're usually good at that."

Hartley shook his head. Sometimes he focused too much on one thing about a person, and missed others.

Cisco lightly traced the green mark on Hartley's wrist; Hartley shivered. "I'm not sure where this will go." Cisco murmured. "But I'm willing to be your friend, if you want."

Hartley felt warmth spread unexpectedly through him. "Thank you Cisco." He replied softly, fingers still running through black strands.

In the morning, when Joe came to check on everyone, he found Felicity, cautious of Alyssa's injuries, huddled next to her, and Hartley and Cisco nestled close together, Hartley's fingers still wrapped in Cisco's hair.


	10. Chapter 10-Ronnie

_**Sorry it's been so long, I've had writer's block and am still figuring somethings out with this story, so just a little short chapter for now. Enjoy!**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 10:Ronnie:

It was to cute, Joe thought; the way kids thought they were being secretive. Felicity and Alyssa at least weren't even trying, snuggled together on his couch talking about computers in language that sounded something like what Barry used in his lab; they were starting to grow on him. Eddie and Iris, he did not even want to know what was going through their heads when they glanced at each other from their positions in the kitchen watching dishes. He was pleased though, he had believed for the longest time that Iris and Barry would get together despite the continued white of their soulmarks, but the blue on his daughter's wrist and the light in her eyes when she looked at Eddie prevented him from being truly upset. He could see in Barry's eyes as he watched them a mix of sadness and acceptance, he could only hope that his son's soulmate was as good to him as Eddie was to Iris.

Hartley and Cisco on the other hand, if they got any closer they'd be sitting on each other's laps, which they didn't seem to notice. This stunned Joe, and from the looks of things, amused Alyssa to no end. The two boys were sitting at the table, looking over plans for something Cisco was making. They worked around each other well; Cisco had started talking to Hartley about something to dampen Meta's powers during dinner and the two hadn't stopped since. They hadn't noticed when Barry had started clearing the dinner plates except to pull out paper and start sketching. But when Cisco was focused on outlining their design Hartley would watch him with a soft smile, and when he talked equations the joy in Cisco's face was so clear it was a miracle the other did not notice.

"They're so sweet." Iris cooed softly, hugging her father.

"And not subtle at all." He replied. She chuckled and sat next to Felicity and Alyssa whose conversation changed from computers to dresses and soon the girls were deep in discussion. Joe smiled. They would need to bring clubs to keep men away the next time the girls went out if they kept on like that.

A phone rang out; Barry. He answered, eyes wide, then turned to look at Cisco. "We may have found Ronnie."

It was a while before they actually managed to bring Ronnie to S.T.A.R. Labs, and once they had Cisco wasn't sure whether they could really say they'd brought Ronnie back, since Martin Stein seemed to be in control for the most part. But it was still Ronnie's body walking around S.T.A.R. Labs again, weird.

Then they discovered that nuclear energy, which Cisco had worried about once Hartley had told him everything he knew about the transfusion project, which was admittedly fairly little, was engrained in his cells and that it was likely to go off in just a few hours. Wonderful.

"Wait the suit readings are normal." He said into the microphone.

"That means there's no radiation." Barry replied. He picked Caitlin up and raced back to the explosion site.

A couple seconds later, Cisco was embracing Ronnie. "Man I shouldn't have sealed you in there."

"Hey. You did what you had to, what I told you to do. Thank you." Caitlin pulled Ronnie away to check his vitals, Stein followed, and the other three men walked back to the Cortex, Cisco smiling the whole way. It was like Hartley had said, Ronnie was family. They all were, and in many ways he felt closer to them than he did to his own flesh and blood. There he felt isolated, disregarded, here he was accepted. And the green on his wrist proved that his family was growing, and cared.

He stopped suddenly. Caitlin's wrist was blue, it had never turned black. Ronnie's wrist was blue as well. So why did they think he was dead?

"Cisco, everything okay?" Barry asked. He looked at Caitlin.

"Why did you think he was dead?"

She sighed, turning a pen over in her hands. "I thought I heard him die. And when I looked, and couldn't find him, I thought that something released by the accelerator must have messed with my soulmark." She smiled at Ronnie sadly. "I sort of, pushed it to the side. Some days I forgot it was still blue." Ronnie hugged her tightly.

"Well I'm back." He whispered. "And I promise you, it'll stay blue."


	11. Chapter 11-Murder

_**Much longer, hope everyone likes it. PLEASE review, I need to know what you think.**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 11: Murder.:

"What's wrong Barry?"

"What?" The speedster looked up at Alyssa, who was watching him from over the top of her book.

"You seem upset. Your face reminds me of a patient, he got that look whenever something new triggered a painful memory. It was always something different."

"Does that count as breaking patient confidentiality?" Barry asked, genuinely curious.

"No names, I'm speaking in very general terms, I can get away with that much."

"What about your book?"

"I got permission for everything in there that needed it, especially anything specific. You're avoiding the question."

"Joe showed me pictures from the night of my mom's murder." Then he realized Alyssa didn't know the story so he told it to her, adding in what Joe had told him about how Cisco had managed this. "It means I must have gone back in time, and failed to save her." His hands were trembling and tears stung his eyes. "I failed."

A warm hand covered his and Alyssa let him cry into her shoulder, tears soaking her shirt as she whispered kind nonsense words under her breath. She did not know how long Barry would be able to stand such close contact with her, but perhaps grief outweighed fear. They stood there in silence for a few minutes after he stopped before the phone rang.

Alyssa muttered something in German that was probably rude and went back to her chair while Barry picked up his cell.

"Caitlin and Ronnie are in trouble, got to go." She waved him off. "And Alyssa? Thank you."

"It's what I do." She replied, the same warmth spreading through her that she got when a patient started moving forward on their own, but he was already gone.

Intense pain adeptly described the feeling of hundreds of tiny needles piercing his flesh. Barry yelped as Caitlin pulled another from under his arm. "This is going to take a while." She muttered.

"What would it take to arrest Eiling or stick him in the pipeline because that option is starting to look extremely tempting." Cisco muttered. Alyssa had, in great detail, explained the many cons of solitary imprisonment particularly in small places with so little human contact. After what the general had done to Hartley and their other encounters with him, those cons were looking like a suitable punishment.

Next thing they knew Martin Stein was captured and Ronnie was cutting into his skin to pass on a message. Then he and Barry raced off, leaving the rest of the crew to watch and worry.

Joe was having a more pleasant evening. Felicity had volunteered to cook dinner and Hartley had decided to join her, leaving Alyssa to complain that she really wasn't that bad a cook which led to a matching pair of "seriously?" faces that told Joe that if he asked there would be stories of Alyssa's past failures. It was enough to make him laugh.

He had understandably not liked the idea of Barry inviting two criminals (Alyssa would count as an accomplice) into his home, particularly when one of them had tried to kill Barry. But the twins were starting to grow on him. While he could definitely see why Hartley and Cisco hadn't gotten along, he could see why they did now. Hartley wasn't kind usually, polite at the most from what Joe could tell, but when he was with Alyssa, Felicity, or Cisco there was a kind of companionship in their actions, love from the first two and friendship from the last. He would never call Hartley nice, but the kid cared very strongly about who he called family. That was clear to Joe.

As for Alyssa, power to create fear none withstanding, she was kind. Joe had seen her comforting Barry, that he was sure she had no outward agenda instantly moved her from the "possible enemy" list to the "close family friend" list. She laughed often, especially with Felicity, and Joe had found great amusement watching their "computer wars", wherein they would each make a file to protect while trying to steal the other's. So far he believed Felicity was ahead in wins, a fact which clearly annoyed Alyssa. But at the same time, Joe knew something dark about Alyssa that he couldn't be sure her family did. He was certain that, if she felt it necessary to ensure Felicity and Hartley's safety, Alyssa would commit murder.

It was one thing to send a drunken man off to the streets and hope he would be run over, and another to kill in self defense, as she had on the stairwell. But Joe had been one of the cops called to that stairwell, had seen the bullet wounds, and known Alyssa had not aimed to wound, and was likely good enough that she could have. She was fiercely protective of Hartley and Felicity, and Joe could see Cisco moving into that list as well. He had seen an almost vicious look in her eyes when Eiling's name had been mentioned, a look that made him fear that if Eiling moved against one more person she cared about, Alyssa would put a bullet in his head without flinching.

Joe was pulled out of his dark thoughts by the phone ringing. "It's Cisco." The youthful laughter died away as all heads turned to him. "Everyone's safe, Ronnie and Dr. Stein merged properly and apparently were able to separate afterwards. Ronnie's going to stay at Cisco's again."

Relief swept across their faces and Joe felt the same. "You introduced Ronnie to me once." Alyssa said with a ghost of a smile to Hartley. "I wonder how he's doing partnered with someone as serious as Martin Stein." She toyed briefly with what was left of her meal then stood. "I need my bike."

"Do you want me to-"

"I'm fine Felicity." Alyssa interrupted. She pressed a soft kiss to the blonde's lips and left, taking her helmet and jacket with her.

҉

Eiling looked up. Outside his office his soldiers were dropping like flies, eyes rolling back into their heads. One fell against the door and was pushed aside by a figure wearing something like the face masks he'd seen in hospitals. She entered and closed the door with frightening calm, removing the mask and meeting Eiling's eyes squarely.

"General."

Yellow was all he could see, yellow and black. Adrenalin flooded his system and he tried to raise his gun, but found himself paralyzed.

"How did you find out about us?" Alyssa mused. Her casualness was forced, her hatred for Eiling, for Wells, for her condition and her brother's poured from her like a flood from a swollen river, intensifying her eyes and the force of their fear. The General was used to high stress situations, but something about this shut his mind and body down. "I never did know."

Eiling had found out about Alyssa Rathaway's abilities when she had caught the eyes of one of his soldiers who had gotten drunk off duty at a bar. The soldier had described the situation to him, a little investigation had yielded much more information. He had thought her ability could be useful, her brother's brains were an added bonus.

"Fear can act as a paralytic." Alyssa was speaking, her words just piercing the fog in Eiling's brain. "With the amount I'm pouring into you I'm not surprised." Her gloved fingers found the gun in his hand, pulled it free. She raised it to his head. "I liked Ronnie. I liked Dr. Stein as well, and I love my brother and soulmate more than anything in the world. You hurt him, and you will keep coming after us. You proved that, trying to find F.I.R.E.S.T.O.R.M. Do you understand, General? I can't take that chance, so let's be through." She walked behind him and aimed the gun at the back of his head. "You wanted a weapon General, and look what's happened."

The shot rang out. The general's body slumped to the floor and Alyssa forced down the bile in her throat. She dropped the gun, replaced her gas mask incase the sedative was not gone from the air and left, stopping only to erase the security footage from the entire night.

 _ **Long periods of solitary isolation isn't good for a person's mind, it can drive them a bit mad, create hallucinations, make them a danger to themselves...It can do other damage but I believe that's the basic parts.**_


	12. Chapter 12-Famliy

_**Eris(Guest):I'm answering here because I can't reply otherwise and to make sure it's clear for everyone, Alyssa really didn't kill Eiling for Ronnie. She killed him because for her Eiling coming after FIRESTORM, hurting an old man on top of already hurting her brother was final proof that Eiling would never stop, he'd just keep coming after them and hurting the people she loves. This last straw would probably have been the soldiers attacking their apartment if she had been in any position to go after Eiling then.**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 12: Family:

The man known as Eobard Thawn sat in his hidden room with a scowl on his face. He was puzzled, and that he did not like.

He had planned to bring Eiling to Grood, something to keep the Flash busy later if needed as well as revenge, for both himself and the gorilla. He did regret a tad what had been done to the giant beast, but that potential he had seen in his own time was too great, and he needed the time streams to coincided as much as possible.

But when he had arrived at the base he found the soldiers sleeping, knocked out with some type of gas from the looks of things, and Eiling dead.

It had been cleanly done, a single bullet to the back of the head, execution style. The general had been shot with his own gun which had been left behind. It was clean, the assassin had worn gloves, and the security tapes had been wiped. Efficient. Impressive and from the look of abject terror on Eiling's face, the general agreed-of course.

"Fool." Eobard muttered, pulling up the cameras from the West house and selecting the one from the room where Felicity and Alyssa were staying. Hartley's twin was sitting one the bed staring out the window, her face blank of all emotion, a dead yet somehow distraught look in her eyes.

Eobard grinned sharply. He had seen that look on the faces of people who had killed for the first time and were either reluctant to accept the fact or had started hating themselves for it. "Gideon pull up anything relating to Alyssa Rathaway." Why hadn't he done this before?

"Yes Dr. Wells." Newspaper articles filled the screen, he scanned them swiftly and gave a cruel smile.

"You're very clever aren't you, Alyssa Rathaway? You kept a low profile even with your parents, worked in the shadows and in the open for years, built ties with metas and criminals, impressive."

She certainly had blood on her hands. It had been so well known during his time that he couldn't believe he'd forgotten, anyone who did serious injury to the Rogues ended up maimed or dead, sometimes before they could actually get to the injuring. The victims had always been terrified afterwards, and the dead looked as if all their nightmares had come at once. They had been scared to death, and looking back on it, Eobard could see that this assassin, this Parallax, focused mostly on people who harmed or threatened the Pied Piper. Hartley.

But Alyssa hadn't been caught as Parallax, she'd been caught talking with the Trickster. The police had pulled her in for questioning and she had gotten off lightly, but the publicity had cost her some of her clients from her daytime job as a therapist for people with sever phobias and other fear-related disorders. Her night-time activities Eobard pulled from his knowledge of his time's Pied Piper, and Alyssa's ability to manipulate fear, she would be able to do more in time he knew.

Parallax had never concerned him as the Reverse-Flash aside from passing curiosity, she (it was clear Parallax was female, Eobard had heard her voice on one of her missions and as her fear had not been directed at him retained his memory of the details clearly) was not involved with the Rogues except in the occasional revenge business and thus had never come in contact with the Flash, at least as far as he knew. But now, now that he knew how willing his Alyssa Rathaway was to kill and that this one hadn't told anyone from the look on her face, he wondered if he couldn't turn her from the rest of them.

҉

Hartley was worried. Alyssa had returned from her bike ride when they had all been asleep, and had not moved from the bedroom she shared with Felicity since, save to use the bathroom. She barely spoke, and toyed with her food more than eating it. Both Hartley and Felicity had tried to worm out of her what was bothering her, even Joe, Cisco, and Barry had tried, but Alyssa was stubborn. If she didn't want to talk, nothing short of getting her to snap in anger would make her. That or finding out on their own why she was so withdrawn, and Hartley for once had absolutely no idea what to do with his twin.

Sometimes he reached out, testing her emotions, but all he could not identify what she felt. There was definitely hatred, but where was it aimed? There was disgust, some horror and fear and beneath it all exhaustion. At least he knew where that was from, Alyssa had started waking up in the middle of the night to vivid nightmares, her terror at times intense enough to wake up Hartley from a deep sleep.

Joe had his own ideas about was going on with Alyssa, but had not heard about any recent murders in the city and was not sure how to approach her. If this went on though, he'd have to figure something out.

Cisco knocked on the door. Hartley had told him Alyssa had been nearly entirely unresponsive for three days. The other man was so clearly worried and failing to hide it, it made Cisco's heart ach. Plus he liked Alyssa, she was one of the few friends he had. He sat on the bed next to where she stared blankly out the window.

"You know, I hear solitary confinement is bad for you."

It triggered a faint smile and Cisco pushed on. "You're scaring Felicity and Hartley, I've never seen him scared. Please Alyssa, tell us what's wrong."

Alyssa wasn't wearing her glasses, but when she turned to look at him there was no life in her eyes. Cisco couldn't be sure whether it was that or her ability that sent a shiver down his spine. He kept talking. "I read your book you know. I was bored and curious-you wrote somewhere in there that you don't try to push patients into explaining their fears instantly, that the first step is to establish trust. You trust us right?"

"Of course!" Her vehemence was the strongest emotion she had shown in three days.

"So we've got that done. Whatever's going on, you don't have to talk now, but you will need to eventually. You know that." A slow nod. "You don't have to talk now. But you need to eat, and you need to stop scaring your family."

Alyssa tilted her head, then in one smooth movement stood and set her sunglasses squarely on her face. "I've been foolish haven't I?"

"You tell me." Cisco said with a grin. She smiled.

"Let's get you to my brother, you're looking a little anxious. And Cisco? You're family too."

It was almost enough to bring tears to Cisco's eyes and he hugged her tightly. "Thank you." He pulled away. "Now come on! Joe's cooking."


	13. Chapter 13-Black

_**Two Chapters! Hope you like them, please please review.**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 13: Black:

"You need to go back to Starling Felicity."

The blonde's head jerked up so fast Alyssa was worried she'd broken something. "Why?"

"Oliver and Diggle need you. You can't have an awesome team on any side of the law without a computer genius to help out." Alyssa smiled sadly. "Your team needs you."

"So do you." Felicity whispered, standing and walking over to sit on Alyssa's lap.

"I know." She whispered sadly, but her yellow eyes met Felicity's grey firmly. "I'd say I want you out of trouble, but when I'm sending you back to your vigilante friend it seems the wrong thing to say. But I feel you're more directly in danger with me. When this thing with Wells is over I'm moving to Starling."

Felicity gasped. "You want to move in with me?"

"In the area certainly." Alyssa was oddly nervous. "I want to be around you and I hoped it wouldn't be a problem but if it is-"

Felicity shut her up with a kiss that left them both starved for air. "Of course I want you with me." Alyssa gave a relieved, shaky laugh, and pressed their foreheads together.

"I'm pretty sure a role reversal just happened here." She muttered and there was more laughter. They kissed again softly, and Alyssa moaned.

"Shut the door."

҉

Cisco soldered metal together, trying to focus on that instead of the argument he'd had with Hartley. It had started with them disagreeing about how best to limit a Meta's powers over a broad field instead of tailoring a machine to each ability, and lead to an argument too much like one of their old fights where Hartley ended up belittling Cisco's abilities. Cisco had fled the room, and now he was in S.T.A.R. Labs trying not to think about Hartley or Dr. Wells who was rapidly becoming more suspicious, tried not to think of anything but a tool to stop Mardon.

In fleeing the room, tears blurring his vision, he had missed Hartley's look of horror, his beginnings of an apology.

Hartley was ashamed of himself. He had not meant to insult Cisco, had no idea what had pushed him over the edge. He went the next day to Alyssa who was reading in the room she had shared with Felicity before sending her soulmate back to Starling yesterday.

"I messed up."

She put the book aside and wrapped him in her arms, like they used to do whenever one of them was sad. "What did you do?"

There was love and pity and slight exasperation in her voice, so familiar that his heart ached. He didn't know what Cisco had said to pull that dead look mostly out of her eyes, but he was grateful. Cisco…

"Oh Hartley." Alyssa sighed when he told her the story. "For someone so brilliant you can be so incredibly stupid. And don't say anything about me not noticing Felicity was lesbian; we never had animosity between us, certainly not at the level you two seem to generate. What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't."

"That makes the most sense." Alyssa admitted.

"I can't lose him." Hartley whispered. "You, Felicity, now Cisco, you are the only people in the world I love. I can't afford to lose you, any of you. I already lost our parents, I can't lose you."

"Well at least you seem to have realized you love him." Alyssa replied dryly. She stroked her twin's head, another familiar gesture. "You want my advice?"

"Even if I didn't you'd give it." He muttered and Alyssa laughed.

"To true. Make him something. You and Cisco both love your gadgets so much, make him one. Something useful but a little silly if you can. Maybe involving those lasers he seems so fond of." Both twins chuckled dryly. "I hope I don't need to say that you must apologize profusely."

Hartley nodded. Alyssa felt slight wetness seep through her blouse and came to a decision. "But first you and I are having some twin time. I'm thinking chess, a stop by that bakery by the park, and we need to find you a new computer." Hartley smiled.

҉

Cisco frowned as he examined the containment cell they had used to capture the Reverse-Flash. As he had told Caitlin, there was no reason anything should have gone wrong. And while she said that Dr. Wells nearly died, well, nearly. There had been nothing to stop their enemy from completing the job unless he wanted the doctor around for some reason, and them being on the same side was one.

Them being the same person? That he hadn't expected.

҉

Alyssa was worried for Joe. She had seen the designs of Cisco's "Wizard's Wand" and they looked good, but she was better at hacking things than building them and there were honestly so many things that could go wrong she almost didn't want to think about it. She told Joe to actually keep his hand on it but when Barry called her to tell her about Captain Singh she called Joe and told him if he went after Mardon without any backup he would die at her hands.

She looked over at Hartley, who was working on his apology gift for Cisco. He hadn't told her what it was, but it was starting to look suspiciously like a miniature millennium falcon.

Hartley liked to make things almost as much as Cisco did, there was just something so wonderful about watching a concept come to life under your hands, watch it gain form and use.

Now if only he could get rid of this growing anxiety prickling under his skin.

It had grown over the last few minutes, the feeling that something was wrong, but he pushed it to the side, or tried to. It had gotten more persistent, and he had just opened his mouth to ask Alyssa if she had any idea what was going on when three things happened at once.

There was a strange feeling in his chest, as if some one had grabbed his heart and wrenched;

A searing pain shot through his wrist as his soulmark changed from green to terrible black bordered in white;

And Hartley finally realized where that feeling of anxiety had been coming from. "No."

Cisco toppled to the floor, his heart shredded…

Dr. Wells, Eobard Thawn, gave a regretful sigh…

Above them Caitlin tried to find Cisco in the security cameras…

Hartley leaped on Alyssa's motorcycle, felt it come to life but his only thought was of Cisco...

Alyssa closed her book and pulled on her gauntlets ready for war, her twin's pain filling her…

Felicity paused in her work with the feeling that something had gone terribly wrong.

At the beach Barry ran, trying to stop the tsunami, getting faster and faster…

There was a shift in the world, and none of it happened.

Not yet at least.


	14. Chapter 14-Reset

_**Here's the second. Hope you like them, please please review.**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 14: Reset:

"Well there goes my excuse for not visiting my family." Cisco muttered, leaving an angry Weather Wizard in the cell behind him.

Barry had made a record capture and that was great even if he was acting a bit odd. But now Cisco had to face his family who, as he told Caitlin, always reminded him that he could do no right, and on top of that he had argued with Hartley yesterday and Felicity had left so he didn't have anyone to talk to. Barry had his own problems, Caitlin didn't know about the Rathaway twins yet and Alyssa, she was dealing with her own problems. He wouldn't want to add to them.

Alyssa was eating cookie dough ice cream while detailing the virus she had given Eiling's computers when she had pulled Hartley from the general's grip. Needless to say Hartley was impressed. Alyssa could hack anything with a battery even if she was terrible at making things, and her viruses were a thing to be feared. She had also sent one to S.T.A.R. Labs, which when Cisco had found out had given her cause to do a great deal of apologizing.

"Alyssa, what's that ship everyone's always saying is a piece of junk, the something-Falcon?"

"The Millennium Falcon? Why?"

He shook his head. "Just a thought." She smiled.

"Come on. Lets go find you a laptop shall we?"

҉

"Well for that you'd have to actually get up in the morning." Cisco retorted.

He found himself wishing Hartley was there if only because the other was better at cutting remarks and he'd love to know what Hartley would have to say to Dante. It would be amusing for sure. And besides Caitlin was engaged and had started wearing her ring again after they'd found Ronnie and while not huge it was certainly visible! So Dante could stop flirting with his friend!

"Come on. Why you so serious mija?"

The old nickname sent a flare through Cisco and he left before he could do something he would really regret. He sympathized with Hartley and Alyssa, really he did. Their family seemed about as accepting as his. At least his parents hadn't thrown him out, though at this point he wasn't sure he would care if they did. A pang went through him and he pushed it aside.

He found himself in a bar, the one he usually went to when he needed a drink. Barry showed up later, apparently he had broken up with Linda. Cisco wondered if Barry's someone special (almost certainly Iris) would be as happy as Barry thought before a pretty structural engineer showed up and the speedster left.

Briefly Cisco thought that her wig was really terrible and wondered if it had been another dare from her friends and then she was kissing him and it was nice but it felt, wrong.

He pulled away. "Sorry, you seem really nice and all but I got to go." And he left.

He was trying to figure out why kissing her had felt wrong, not like he'd had trouble kissing girls before, when he felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck. His last thought was that it wasn't Alyssa playing a prank, she had no darts.

҉

"I know I would do anything for my family. Question is, would you?"

Well the answer was yes. Which brought him to this point, sitting tied to a table opposite his brother who had just confessed to telling the girl Cisco had had a crush on that he wanted to be a monk. _Hell no._

"So not only did you break my heart but you also broke hers?" If he was any less moral, he would shoot his brother with the cold gun right about now. If he had it that is. Being able to hit him would do just fine.

His brother's next words might have been enough to push away the anger if Dante hadn't blindly attacked Heat Wave. At least have more of a plan before you, not quietly, run up behind a pyromaniac!

Then the thief was coming at him and Cisco swung on instinct, only just missing and now he really couldn't be angry with his brother because he was too worried about being used as charcoal.

Someone pulled Heat Wave away and Cisco risked a look up, than blinked in surprise. A familiar face half obscured with sunglasses showed behind Mick Rory's, one arm wrapped around his chest, the other hand holding a syringe imbedded in his neck.

He saw yellow behind her shades and gulped, she was very angry. "Why do I get the feeling you're completely off your leash?"

Alyssa let the thief fall to the floor, the syringe slipping back into her sleeve. "I love that you think a person who can keep me on a leash exists." She glanced up; the Snart siblings had just entered. Her lips curved into a smile that scared Cisco more than her eyes. She pulled off her jacket and tossed it over Cisco. "There's a pocket knife and keys in one pocket. Get going."

"But what about-"

"Don't argue, just go." Removing her jacket had revealed the armbands Cisco had watched Hartley refine. He wondered if any were more than sedatives and their antidotes.

"That's not an option." Captain Cold drawled slowly, hands on his gun.

Alyssa stopped swiftly and pulled a regular gun from the downed thief's belt, pointing it at Snart. "Want to bet?"

Snart's words chilled Cisco as he pulled his brother out the door. "Your hands are steady. You've killed before."

҉

Alyssa winced but didn't lower the gun until she heard the door close behind Cisco. "He deserved it."

"What did he do?" Alyssa's smile turned colder.

"Lisa Snart. I remember you. Tell me; are you still afraid of the dark?"

Lisa's breath caught in her throat. "Alyssa Rathaway." She whispered. Her brother recognized the name. Lisa had gone in undercover as a patient, to see if there was any hope of kidnapping or robbing either of the Rathaway twins. Len had never found out what had happened during that meeting, but Lisa had told him that there was no point in stealing from them and started seeing the therapist regularly.

҉

 _Lisa Snart walked into the therapist's office. She had done some research on their target though details of her work were hard to find. What she had found was that Alyssa Rathaway, age twenty-seven, dealt with fears. So she had gone in as a patient though she had not lied entirely, for as long as she could remember Lisa had been terribly afraid of the dark._

 _"Hey, I'm Alyssa Rathaway." The mark was pretty, with curly hair and brown eyes and a strip of green across her wrist. She shook Lisa's hand and gestured to the large, comfortable chair._

 _"Would it be possible for you to give me a minute, I was finishing an email to my brother, it will only take a second."_

 _"That's fine." Lisa said, sitting down. The doctor typed something into her computer, eyebrows raised. "What shall I call you?"_

 _"Dr. or Miss. Rathaway is most common, you can call me Alyssa if you want though." She said, taking a seat opposite Lisa._

 _"What's your brother like?" Lisa hedged. Alyssa didn't seem to find anything odd about the comment though, she leaned comfortably back in her seat._

 _"Brilliant scientifically, but not the best when it comes to social situations." Her smile was fond. "What about your brother Lisa?"_

 _Lisa froze. Her alias was Mary Smith, who had no siblings. "I don't know what you-"_

 _"Lisa Snart, younger sister of Leonard Snart, bad home life, arrested once when caught stealing diamonds but I would guess you've stolen much more than that." She smiled. "I had rich parents, Lisa; I know someone might come to me for reasons other then money."_

 _"Had?"_

 _She shrugged. "They found out my brother and I were homosexual. They disowned us." A grin. "I posted porn all over their website. It was hilarious." Lisa would have smiled had she not been so worried._

 _"So, why are you here?"_

 _"Why do you think?"_

 _"You could be planning to rob us; I can tell you now you'll regret it. There's not much to steal anyway, and I would do my best to ensure you got caught. I've done it once." The look in her eyes made Lisa believe it._

 _"If what you say is true and you are afraid of the dark, I will help you. It's what I do." Lisa hesitated, than nodded. She hated being afraid of the dark, hated how weak it could make her. Alyssa nodded with a smile._

 _"Good. Now to start I have to say that nothing you tell me goes out of this room without your permission, unless I have serious concerns about your welfare or of any illegal activity. So don't plan on killing yourself, and don't talk about any ongoing heists." Lisa smiled._

 _"You can talk to my brother about this if you ever need to." Alyssa nodded in understanding._

 _҉_

That had been a little before the accelerator explosion and soon afterwards Alyssa left. Lisa had looked into it but the therapist had covered her tracks well, she could find nothing aside from what Alyssa had told her employers. She had spoken to Lisa as well, but the thief had refused to see another therapist.

Alyssa stepped over Mick Rory and stood facing the Snarts directly, the table in between them. "Honestly I'm hoping Cisco will be my brother-in-law soon." She said casually. "Like you I care a great deal for my family. I would do anything to keep them safe and you just kidnapped him."

She kept her glasses on, she was too angry and if they were removed it would be extremely difficult to conduct a serious conversation. Len and Lisa were both becoming anxious, the effects of her ability touching them. But they had been thieves for long, and it didn't show. Visibly.

"But let's make a deal."

Lisa blinked. She had not been expecting that.

"I'll let you keep your guns, let you keep stealing, though don't expect any help with the cops." Len snorted. "But if you ever come near my family or anybody at S.T.A.R. Labs again, I will kill you myself. And if you test me, I will let the whole criminal underworld know that you are afraid of the dark, Lisa."

The two seemed to consider this. On the one hand, she might know who the Flash was and Len would very much like to know as well. On the other, despite her casual voice and stance, he had the distinct feeling that it was Alyssa Rathaway who had the upper hand here. And the anxiety he felt was starting to worry him. He glanced at his sister, who nodded once.

"A question before we decide." He said still trying to sound in control. "What did you do to Mick?"

"Sedative. I studied those as well as therapy in college. He should be awake it no more than two hours." She replied. Len nodded.

"Then we have a deal."

Alyssa smiled but before she could leave Lisa spoke. "What's with the glasses?"

The resulting laugh sent shivers down their spines. "I was debating on whether or not to do this, but since you asked." And she removed her glasses.

Yellow orbs circling stark black pupils sent waves of fear through them. Lisa's vision went dark and she screamed. Len felt frozen, hearing his sister's screams but not being able to do anything, so much like his childhood, like living a nightmare.

Alyssa sighed, elated, relieved and saddened all at the same time and left. It was a long walk back to Joe's.


	15. Chapter 15-Family

_**I never figured out the time between most of these or even during, so we'll say it's late afternoon when Alyssa rescues Cisco, evening when Barry makes a deal with Snart, and later when theyre all at the Wests.**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 15: Family:

Cisco brought his brother to their parents' house, extracting a promise from Dante that he would say nothing of Alyssa before he went to S.T.A.R. Labs. He told them that Dante had knocked out Mick Rory and that they had fled in the thieves' van. No one had questioned it. And he told them about the guns.

He wanted to leave then, so that he would never risk foolishness that would hurt them again. But he couldn't. Hartley's words nagged at him, they had for so long, but now there was something else, an undercurrent he couldn't sense, the thought that Dr. Wells might be even more dangerous than the twins had thought.

Then Barry was running after Snart who had somehow learned his name and oh god how had that happened? But Barry gave Snart the threat of arrest and a deal, if the thieves kept it clean and stayed away from his friends, Barry wouldn't lock him in the accelerator. Seems fair.

Cisco was relieved though when Barry finally brought him to the West house. Joe opened the door, looking relieved.

"Iris isn't here now, is anyone hungry? I've got meatloaf." Cisco gave a noncommittal shrug. He wasn't sure he felt like eating. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him and leaning against the wood. He was so tired.

He nearly jumped when there were hurried arms around him, hugging him tightly. He barely had time to think _Hartley_ before the other man pulled away slightly and then there were lips on his, quick but warm before Hartley again pulled away.

 _Oh._ Cisco thought, voiceless. Hartley opened his mouth, probably an apology from the sudden fear so clear upon his face, but that fear was wrong; Cisco pulled the other towards him, kissing softly. He felt Hartley relax, returning the kiss, before fingers wound their way into his hair and tugged, as if reassuring themselves of his presence.

This time Cisco pulled away but not far, only enough to breath and lay his forehead against Hartley's. The other scientist sighed softly, looking down.

"I was afraid you weren't coming back."

"Snart forced me to make guns." Cisco whispered in reply. Neither noticed Joe and Barry trying to decide whether or not they should be watching. "I never want to make another weapon like that. I was scared I wouldn't come back."

Hartley's grip on his hair tightened. "I'm sorry, Cisco, I should never have said what I did the other day, I don't know what happened, I was frustrated and next thing I know I'm insulting people again. And all I told you when we were still at the Labs was uncalled for, it was just so easy to push everyone away than to open up to the risk of getting hurt again, I-"

Cisco silenced him with another soft kiss. "Forgiven, forgotten. We're all tired, all stressed, just please don't shove me away again." Hartley nodded, and Cisco brushed a finger over the tears beginning to fall.

They were silent for another moment before Barry coughed. "Um, should we be eating?"

Cisco laughed, Hartley smiled, and Joe face-palmed. Barry blushed. "And where's Alyssa?"

Cisco suddenly froze. "Cisco?" Hartley's voice was still so soft, like he was afraid he'd scare the engineer away if he spoke any louder.

"There's something I think should tell you." He turned to Hartley, biting his lip. "Alyssa, she came to our rescue. She sedated Heat wave and pointed his gun at the Snarts while I pulled my brother out. She told me to leave and not wait. Before the door closed Snart-he said that Alyssa's hands were steady, that she must have killed before."

"General Wade Eiling."

Heads jerked around. Alyssa was leaning in the entrance to the hallway. She looked exhausted. Strands of sweaty hair clung to her face, her armbands hung loose from her hands, and her sunglasses were sliding down her nose, revealing faint glimpses of tired yellow. She must have picked the lock to the back door.

She pulled away from the door and tugged her phone out of her pocket, touching the screen before setting it on the coffee table. She wouldn't look at them nor the phone, staring at the wall in a way that reminded Hartley uncomfortably of the time after Ronnie had left.

"Alyssa?" Felicity's voice rose from the phone. "Are you okay how are you-"

"I killed Eiling." Alyssa said, more firmly than she had before, still exhaustion went deep in her voice. "I know how to make sedatives gaseous. I put it into the vents at the base, waited till the soldiers were unconscious, and then I walked into Eiling's office and shot him in the back of his head with his own gun. I wiped the tapes, wore gloves, the soldiers didn't see me, there should be nothing to say I was there." She paused, then added, "Though I do think I nearly scared Eiling to death before shooting him."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Barry whispered.

"How are you supposed to look your twin and soulmate in the eye and tell them you murdered a man in cold blood Barry? On the stairs of our apartment it was one thing, that was self-defense. This was planned, pre-meditated, I just couldn't" she took a deep, shuddering breath, "I couldn't live knowing that he was going to keep coming after us. I didn't have the strength to do anything after he came to our apartment, but then he hurt another friend and I knew nothing would stop him unless it was permanent. So I made it permanent."

"And you thought we would hate you." Hartley said, striding forward and wrapping Alyssa in his arms. "And you say I'm stupid."

"Alyssa when I met Oliver he was still shooting people because he couldn't figure out how else to make a point. If I could accept that, do you think I couldn't accept my soulmate doing the same because she felt the need to protect her family? I love you Alyssa, and nothing will change that. I'd run over there right now if I could." Something crashed. "Oh crap."

"Go back to heroing Felicity." Hartley said gently. "I've got her." The phone clicked off.

"So do I. Well, sort of." Cisco said, joining the twins' hug. "You saved me from Snart when he would have hurt my brother, you managed to become my sister, I can accept this." He paused. "Might take me a moment to thoroughly wrap my head around it, but I will."

Alyssa broke into sobs and the next thing Barry and Joe knew the three were somehow in a cuddle hug on the floor, the two men holding the crying woman in their arms, their hands gripping each others'.

"Are you going to arrest her?" Barry muttered.

Joe thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No. No one but us and the army knows about Eiling's death and they're keeping it quiet. Alyssa was protecting her family. I don't like it, but I've took a life I shouldn't have when I killed Clyde Mardon. I'll learn to accept this I suppose, as long as she doesn't make it a habit."

"I hate killing." Barry replied softly. "It might take me a while." Joe shrugged. He wasn't sure what to say.

After Alyssa's cries had died off and she fell to sleep, more restful then she'd had in weeks, Cisco and Hartley brought her carefully to her room. The tenderness and ease in which Hartley wrapped the covers around his twin spoke of old familiarity.

"Have you done this before?"

He nodded. "Often, it wasn't unusual for one of us to fall asleep over a book or some project even when we were children. The other would put the sleeper to bed, or at least find a blanket. It was usually the other's cue to go to bed." He pulled off the dark sunglasses, setting them on the bedside table before following Cisco out of the room and closing the door.

The two men paused, unsure. Cisco spoke first. "I'd guess I'd better go."

"Cisco." Hartley grabbed his hand, and seemed to search for the words before finally whispering, "Stay with me?"

Cisco nodded. The two men made their way to Hartley's room, kicking off shoes in Cisco's case, and flicking off the lights. They burrowed under the covers, instinctively curling close together and fell asleep to the sound of their hearts beating together.


	16. Chapter 16-Family of Nerds

_**So this is me indulging in sweetness. The breakfast Alyssa makes is one of my favorites, minus the toast. I use tortillas. And popcorn with chocolate is actually pretty good.**_

 _ **I own nothing except Alyssa, so don't touch her or sue me.**_

Chapter 16: Family of Nerds:

Alyssa woke slowly, her mind reluctant to leave sleeps restful embrace. Or maybe it was her body reluctant to leave the warm bed. Likely both.

She forced her eyes open and her body out of bed. It would take coffee to fully force her mind away from sleep. She padded over to the dresser; they had gotten Barry to bring them clothes from their old apartment and they really needed to find a new place damn it. She pulled out a slightly crumpled blue sundress and slid into the restroom.

A few minuets later she slid out and walked to towards her brother's room.

What she found surprised her, Hartley and Cisco curled together partly under the covers. Her twin had one arm wrapped around Cisco and the other under his own head. Cisco's arm, the one she could see, curved over Hartley's head from its place on the pillows. Their legs had tangled together and she noticed they had gone to bed without changing into pajamas. As she watched, Hartley hummed and moved, his arm moving from under his head to over Cisco's.

With a warm smile Alyssa pulled the covers back over them, pausing to kiss her brother's cheek before leaving as silently as she had come.

Sunglasses held in hand she walked downstairs, setting the annoying accessories into place when she saw Joe finishing breakfast.

"Where's Barry?"

"Decided to run by Jitters before going to the precinct. Bet he'll still be late though." Joe replied, finishing his coffee.

Alyssa took a deep breath, then moved to stand in front of him. "Are you going to arrest me?"

"Eiling's death has been a matter for the army only so far, I see no reason to bring the police into it. I understand your reasons, and it isn't my case, so I never heard anything."

"Thank you."

Joe hesitated. "I did think before that you had the potential to kill in a way that was not necessarily self defense. For all Hartley tried to kill Barry, he strikes me as the kind of person who wouldn't even consider murder if he was in his right mind. This was him overwhelmed by anger. Fear powers aside, you are by far the darker twin."

"Hartley didn't make those gloves to use against the Flash." Alyssa said. "He's always been fascinated with sound, comes from being born deaf. He just sort of lost it when he felt he was being replaced and all the anger he held at Wells sort of exploded. He put his little plan together in two days and left, without telling me the details I might add."

"Why didn't you break him from the Pipeline? I find it hard to believe you couldn't manage that."

Alyssa laughed. "Please, I've seen their security. S.T.A.R. Labs needs some serious modifications in that area. Yes I could have broken Hartley out, but I wanted to let him stew for a few days. Not very sisterly of me I suppose, but hey. I told myself I'd give him a week. He got out just before the deadline, and was almost instantly in Eiling's hands." She glared. "Bastard."

Joe nodded in agreement. "I'd better go or I'll be the late one, I believe Wells gave Cisco the day off right?" She nodded. "Have a nerd day. Just don't wreck my house." The two laughed and Alyssa waved Joe out the door before turning to the kitchen.

Cisco was woken rather abruptly when something hit his leg. He jerked upwards before looking down. Hartley had kicked him in his sleep.

Grumbling he poked the other scientist until he woke up, bleary-eyed and squinting. "You kicked me."

Hartley glared at him, a face that given his obvious sleepiness and lack of glasses was utterly adorable. "Did you have to wake me up for that?"

"Yes." Hartley grumbled and turned around, tugging the blankets with him. "Hey!" Cisco yelped, pulling them back. Somehow in the midst of the tugging Cisco fell on top of Hartley and kissed him.

That kept them occupied for a few minutes.

When Cisco finally pulled away he smiled and picked up Hartley's glasses, setting them on his soulmate's nose. "There. Let's get breakfast shall we?" He jumped out of bed before Hartley could answer and practically sauntered to the door.

Hartley followed and wrapped Cisco in a hug. The engineer hummed. "You know, less then a year ago I wouldn't have thought you capable of hugging."

"It's nice." Hartley muttered. Cisco turned and grinned.

"Or blushing."

Turning even pinker Hartley pushed Cisco away. "Shut up!" Cisco laughed as he walked downstairs, Hartley behind him.

"Oh please tell me you aren't cooking!"

Alyssa scowled at her brother, though there was no real ire in it. "I'm cooking the one thing you say I can."

Hartley looked over her shoulder. "Oh good." The pan was full of scrambled eggs and he could smell goat cheese and pepper.

"I'll make you some to if you get the toast." Alyssa said, her attention once again held by the pan. She wasn't wearing her glasses, but Cisco wasn't afraid, he could not see her eyes and Hartley negated the anxiety that naturally followed her.

Hartley looked to Cisco who nodded. The two fetched toast as well as dishes at Alyssa's command and she served one plate of eggs, pushing it towards them and pulling others from their Styrofoam containment.

Cisco took the eggs and grabbed a piece of toast before Hartley could. "This is good!"

"Thanks Cisco."

"Eggs are literally the only thing she can cook, unless you like your food very well toasted." Hartley muttered to Cisco who barely contained a snort.

"I heard that Hartley!" Alyssa replied. Hartley barely ducked the wooden spoon she tossed at him and Cisco laughed. "Just for that, I'm eating all your eggs."

"Oh please don't." Hartley asked dramatically. The others snorted.

"Hartley."

"Yes?" He knew that innocent tone. It was the one she used when she wanted him to do something and wasn't entirely certain about another person's reaction but knew she wanted to see it. It was usually embarrassing for all but her.

She was finishing the eggs and spoken in Spanish, which she knew full well Cisco understood. "I believe you had a gift for a certain someone."

"I'm going to break your armbands." He grumbled as he left the kitchen.

"No you won't!" She yelled after him. She turned to Cisco with a grin, flipping the stove's dial to off. "He wouldn't break anything he made. You understand." Cisco nodded, he understood all to well.

Hartley came back, looking oddly nervous. "Close your eyes."

Cisco raised an eyebrow but complied. "It had better not be anything slimy." He could almost hear the twins rolling their eyes as something cool and metallic was placed in his hands.

He opened his eyes. He was holding a model of the Millennium Falcon; exact, about the size of his hand, and, when he held it to his eyes, the same HR engraved on the edge that he had found on each of Hartley's gloves.

"This is a Millennium Falcon."

"Yes." Hartley shifted, the mask he normally wore gone entirely, worry clear in his eyes. "My apology for the other day. And it has tiny lasers that should burn skin, and it's voice controlled, though you should also be able to use your tablet-"

Cisco cut Hartley off by kissing him passionately, throwing his arms around his soulmate who responded just as strongly. It took quite a while for breathing to become a problem thankfully, and when it did they simply paused before continuing.

"Your food's getting cold." Alyssa was grinning like a hyena, but they didn't pay her any attention.

Cisco pulled away with a gasp and leaned his head against Hartley's. "I love it." He whispered, kissing the scientist's nose. "Thank you."

The smile that lit Hartley's face could have powered half the city. "I love you." Then he froze, not having expected to say those words.

Cisco merely smiled. "You know, Lisa Snart kissed me in that bar." He felt Hartley's fingers tighten in his hair and remembered Alyssa's description of her twin, possessive. "And it might have been nice, but it just felt, wrong. And I couldn't quite figure out why until you kissed me yesterday. So yes, I love you." And he kissed him again, just to prove it.

The sudden wave of sadness caused Hartley to pull away, instinct drawing him straight to the source. Alyssa was watching them, her grin only half wicked, and her eyes filled with tears. "You miss Felicity."

Alyssa gave a shaky nod. "But I'm happy for you two. There aren't words."

"I know." Cisco said. He pulled her into a hug.

Alyssa smirked as she handed Hartley his breakfast. "Just give me fair warning before you decided to make it blue."

Cisco flushed, Hartley smirked back. "Oh because you two gave me so much. I could hear you through the walls."

Alyssa suddenly turned very crimson. "They were thin walls!"

"You were still loud." Cisco groaned and left to the living room, sitting on the couch and examining his present. The twins followed him, Alyssa still blushing deeply.

They finished breakfast and settled into a friendly argument on how best to spend their "nerd day." They finally agreed on a Star Trek marathon, which point Cisco decided required candy and he was going to run to the store.

Alyssa pulled up Skype and contacted Felicity. She was working her day job thankfully.

"I told you I love you no matter what, right?" Felicity asked the moment her face popped up on screen. "Because killing Eiling does not make you a bad person and I couldn't hate you if I tried-"

"Normally this would be the point where I kiss you to shut you up." Alyssa drawled with her friendly smile, yellow eyes gleaming.

"I get the feeling I'm going to be doing a lot of that." Hartley muttered. Felicity huffed before realization struck. "Did they…?"

"Kiss. Yes. Still green." The blond cheered while Hartley poked his sister in the back.

"About time!"

The computer geeks spent some time catching up before Cisco came in; he said a quick hello to Felicity before turning to Alyssa, who quickly slid her glasses on.

"Parallax."

"Oh you absolute dork." She groaned, sinking her head into her hands. "I am not a giant evil ugly space octopus."

Cisco snorted her description and passed her the junior mints. "I'll take it though." A grin.

"Good." He handed Hartley the bag of Recees and sat down with a thump besides him, pulling out his twizzlers and setting the rest of the sweets and popcorn on the coffee table. "And I was thinking, I've been around you at times without Hartley near and it isn't as nerve wracking, I think you wore blue all those times. Hartley's eyes got bluer and he sort of negates your fear just by being here, we stopped Bivalo by using colors to reset Barry's emotions, so maybe we can work something out with blue so you can at least be around people."

They stared at him. "That's genius!" Alyssa exclaimed, grinning. "We'll need more test subjects though."

"We can use Barry and Joe when they get home." Hartley replied.

"Until then," Alyssa touched her fingers to her lips and then to Felicity's on the screen. "I love you."

"Love you to." Was the reply and she closed the screen. "She has work and I believe a nerd day was promised." She headed to the kitchen with the popcorn. Cisco turned to Hartley.

"Just to be clear, this makes us boyfriends, right?"

"Of course."

They didn't pull away until Alyssa returned with the popcorn and a muttered "I'm jealous." She dumped the M&M's into the popcorn and started the series.


	17. Chapter 17

**_Writer's block is evil and I've had it with all my stories except some originals which is ironic. But here's two chapters for you._**

 ** _Tricksters and Bee lady didn't happen mostly becasue I can't believe this wouldn't have happened sooner. So ignore those. I suppose Grood probably happens but I'm skipping that._**

 _ **I own nothing.**_

Chapter 17: Discovery:

"Hartley Osgood Rathaway." Alyssa's voice turned deadly serious. "Are you saying you did not tell them Wells could walk?"

"I thought you did!" He protested.

"You're the one who saw!" She face-palmed and cursed in every language she knew.

Cisco was shocked, running his latest dreams through his head. Caitlin was frozen. Barry closed his eyes in pain. Joe's face was still, but there were thoughts racing through his head.

Cisco and Joe had returned an hour ago from Starling and Caitlin had only then seen Hartley and Alyssa. The therapist went into the kitchen for tea, Caitlin looked overwhelmed.

"What are we going to do?" Barry said finally.

"We need a confession to free your father." Joe said slowly.

"We could recreate my dream." Cisco offered.

"That's too dangerous." Hartley said instantly. Caitlin blinked at his worry for Cisco.

"I could change the force fields on the last trap; make it impossible for a speedster to get in."

As the two engineers argued over the logistics, Alyssa returned with a mug of mint tea and set it before Caitlin. "I know it's a shock."

"I believe you." The doctor took a shaky breath and sipped the tea. "I wish I didn't but-"

"I understand."

They sat in silence for a moment as the men hashed out their plan before Caitlin asked "What exactly do you do?"

Familiarity helped people when they were stressed or scared, helped them calm. Talking about familiar things or interests was a good tactic, so Alyssa would let Caitlin ask as many questions as she wanted.

"I scare people. That's the basics. My presence makes people anxious, eye-contact terrifies them. Some have had visions of what we believe are past traumas. It's partly tied to my emotions, so when I'm angry everything is augmented. Hartley can nullify the effects."

"I don't feel anxious now."

"Because he's here. As long as you're within a few feet of him and my eyes are covered, you won't feel too anxious. And we've discovered blue helps." Indeed she was dressed entirely in blue today.

"Like showing Barry the right colors when he was whammied by Bivalo." Caitlin muttered. The two talked for a few minutes before Alyssa decided that everyone needed rest and they were getting it right now.

҉

Alyssa was sitting in the Cortex with Hartley, scowling. Joe apparently knew she would kill Wells-Eobard-given the opportunity and decided that she would stay up here, regardless of her learning to direct fear mostly at one person in the room.

"I wonder if you can scare people to death." Hartley muttered. She blinked.

"Hmm." She saw Wells on the monitors and sat up. "He's here."

But he wasn't. Hartley reflexively grabbed his wrist when Wells walked through the force field only to relax when Joe shot him till the moment the body became Hannibal Bates.

"Uh oh."

Wells voice echoed from speakers and Alyssa growled. "I'm going to kill him."

"I will enjoy your attempts Parallax." Wells's amused tone had Alyssa launching a mug at the direction of his voice. "But not today."

Then he was gone, and so was Eddie and the team cursed or paled when they realized he'd been watching them this whole time.

҉

Alyssa was honestly a bit disappointed in Iris. She'd expected the other woman to figure out much sooner that Barry was the Flash. But that was for later.

"Say that again."

Iris blinked. "What?"

"The thing you just said, about it being so clear…"

"Um, that things right in front of you shouldn't be so hard to see?"

She wheeled around to face her twin. "Is there anything under the accelerator? Or the Labs?"

"Possibly." He reached for the computer.

"Barry look there, I bet that's where Eddie is."

Two minutes later a yellow streak raced past them followed by red. "Guess you were right."

They brought Eddie up, Caitlin plugging him into the IV's while Joe lightly grilled his partner. Hartley and Alyssa went to Cisco's lab, where Hartley showed his twin what they'd made for her.

"So we know that you wearing blue makes people less anxious unless your eyes are uncovered and means that you have to push for them to get actually scared." They'd experimented a lot over the week and a half since Cisco named her. "And I know you hate the sun glasses, so we made these."

Alyssa held up the glasses. "They're great." Copper wire frames with clear blue lenses they fit her perfectly while turning the world soft blue.

"They should help keep you calm as well as others, but you'll be able to see better." Hartley continued with a smile. "Why don't you go in before me and we'll see how they work?"

"I'm nervous but it's manageable." Caitlin said, staring at Alyssa. Cisco actually met her eyes and shuddered.

"Alright. Keep calm and don't make a lot of eye contact. I'm anxious to, but it's only bad if I meet your eyes and even then I'm not too scared." He said at last. "I think if you painted your room blue you might be able to go back into practice."

Alyssa smiled brightly and Hartley walked into the Cortex, hugging her tightly before kissing Cisco softly. Caitlin was _still_ getting used to that.

A beeping from one of the computers alerted them. "What's happening?"

Alyssa raced to the computer. "Oh no."

"What's the oh no?" Joe asked, worry in every line.

"The particle accelerator's being turned back on." She whispered. "Guys if it powers up fully all the metas will die."


	18. Chapter 18

**_Please review!_**

 _ **I own nothing.**_

Chapter 18: The Coming Storm:

"Think Oliver can help?"

"I'll ask him, he's kind of out of town at the moment. I'll call back soon as possible."

"Alright. Love you."

"Love you to."

Alyssa put up her phone. "Felicity says she'll ask Oliver but doesn't know when he'll be able to make it. I still say we don't need to worry about the streets."

"Ronnie's on his way but he doesn't know when he'll get here." Caitlin held up her own phone.

"We want them out as soon as possible with as little trouble as possible." Joe replied drawing a hand over his face. "I'll see if I can arrange anything."

She nodded. "I need to prepare that sedative…if anyone needs me I'll be in Caitlin's lab. Cisco, you have a moment?"

The engineer nodded and followed her into the lab. "What's wrong?"

"I could give you a list but that seems a bit ineffective at the moment. I would like you to take a look at this." She pulled a cardboard box from under the tables.

Cisco touched one of the now-dark lights of the Pied Piper gloves. "I thought Hartley was working on them."

"He's been having some trouble. The left glove works fine but something about the wires in the right…and we've been stressed and worried, not to mention he's been focusing on my abilities so much he hasn't had time to work on it. At the moment he's finding transport and hiding something in my armbands so I was hoping you'd take a look."

"Gladly." Cisco smiled shakily. Alyssa wrapped an arm around him.

"I know this is hard and I won't promise that it will be all right, but I swear to you Cisco, through good times and bad, you'll always have us." Cisco nodded.

"Now I know how Hartley felt when Wells fired him." He muttered. Alyssa hugged him and without a thought he hugged back.

"And now you know how I feel." She pulled back with a soft smile. "Every time I see Felicity's face light up."

҉

Joe watched Alyssa working before approaching her. "You can't kill him you know."

Her hands stilled then continued their movements. "Accidents happen. I will not deprive Barry of an answer if that is what you are worried about." She looked up at the detective. "Besides all of this is under the radar isn't it? Which reminds me." She stood and walked towards the much larger man. "I would like to let Shawna Baez go."

"She tried to kill me." Caitlin said from behind Joe.

"I know. But didn't you say the whole goal was rehabilitating metas?" A slow nodded. "She got mixed up with a bad man, never hurt anyone. Frankly if I got locked in solitary confinement I'd want to kill someone to. Just let me talk to her. If she refuses, fine, she can stay, but otherwise…"

"She's got a point." Cisco called from where he was finishing Hartley's glove.

"Alright. But tell her we'll be keeping an eye on her for a while." Alyssa nodded and headed down.

Shawna agreed, as Alyssa hoped she would. "By the way, Cisco gave me this." She held out a list as she walked the woman into the open. "It's a list of restaurants that deliver to college kids or would deliver if it didn't take to long to both cook and drive the food. He thought you could start a delivery service, help you get back on your feet. And this," She tapped the name and address at the bottom. "Is the name of a former patient. She gave me her permission to give her name to anyone I knew who needed help getting on their feet. She has some nice apartments."

Shawna looked at the woman, someone she'd never seen before today. Wearing blue jeans and a blue sweater over a blue shirt and glasses that turned her iris oddly green, Shawna couldn't decide whether she made her calm or worried.

"Thank you."

The woman-Alyssa-smiled. "Just don't go back to stealing. And if you think about going back to med school, call me. I know a few people." They shook hands and Shawna popped away.

Alyssa smiled, a familiar lightness in her chest, before a familiar blue parka caught her eye. "What the hell are you doing here Snart?"

"Your Scarlet friend came to see me." He drawled, his eyes on hers. Impressive on both his part and her clever friends'. "I've come to offer a deal."

҉

"I told you I could keep the streets clear!" Alyssa was arguing with Barry in the other room while Len watched through the window, half trying to hear half keeping an eye on the two scientists he had once kidnapped. Both were as far from him as possible while still watching him in person rather than on security cameras.

A door slammed and a moment later Scarlet came back into the room. "We need a virus Cisco."

҉

A whoop sounded as the Flash dropped Len in the entrance of the Labs and zoomed back for Lisa. The thief didn't recognize the two people hugging but the man looked overjoyed.

A familiar rush sounded next to them and Lisa appeared looked slightly winded. The Flash saw the other two. "Felicity?"

They broke apart, the blond girl opening her mouth before spotting the siblings and snapping it shut. Then, "Good to see you Flash. Our mutual friend said he'd be by in an hour or so."

"Good." They started walking down the hall way.

"How'd you get this past my sister without losing limbs?" Asked the man, frost coating his voice.

"Good luck?" The speedster guessed. "I think she's still mad."

The man snorted. "I'm pissed and I'm not the one with the sedatives and yellow eyes."

"No, you're the one who tried to kill me."

"Point."

"Not to interrupt." Len drawled trying to figure out what he'd done to the younger man, he didn't look like a cop. "But who's the lucky person?" They all turned towards him. "That is a ring box isn't it, Felicity?"

The blond slipped the small box in her pocket. "That's my business Captain."

The Flash murmured something to the other man, who nodded and turned away towards a smaller lab. Len's wrist twitched.

Cisco Ramon yelped when he spotted them at the entrance. "Geez warn a guy would you?!"

"Hey Cisco." The blond smiled and hugged him, Lisa and Len branched out into the room, an odd anxiety sweeping over them. "Where's Felicity?"

Cisco winced and gestured towards Caitlin's lab, where Len spotted the familiar figure of Alyssa Rathaway hunched over desk, a dark scowl on her face. He watched as Felicity sighed and walked towards the therapist.

"Miss me?"

In all of five seconds Alyssa was standing, wrapping her arms around the blond and kissing her deeply. _So that's who the ring's for._ Len thought, having glimpsed the blue on their wrists. The odd anxiety slipped away.

He heard a muffled yelp and turned to see the man who had hugged Felicity earlier similarly wrapped around Cisco, a pair of odd metal gloves in his hand.

After about a minute Dr. Snow spoke. "Don't they need to breath?"

The two men broke apart. "Swimming lessons." The unknown man said before resuming the kiss.

Glancing between him and the still lip-locked Alyssa Len listed the similarities in appearance; it seemed this was the other Rathaway twin, Hartley. Their disownment had been all over the papers, and yet the media had focused more on the male twin. Alyssa Rathaway avoided the spotlight fairly well.

"Bad luck there Lisa." A voice murmured as the two women came back in the room holding hands. "Can't say I'm too sorry." The couples stood together, the twins wrapping an arm around the other. Alyssa spoke up. "So are we doing this or what?"

҉

Len and Alyssa led the way on their motorcycles, Len trying to focus on the road. Alyssa seemed to be projecting anxiety to keep the streets clear and he wondered if she was deliberately on the line between worry and out-right fear or if she was struggling not to go over.

Hartley, Cisco, and Lisa were driving the truck with the metas; Hartley deflecting Lisa's probing questions. The detective and Dr. Snow drove behind them, the Flash ran ahead. It was at Ferris Air that everything went downhill for the heroes.

Those gloves of Hartley's were useful, if Len thought there was a chance he'd try recruiting the kid, who successfully kept Mardon busy while his sister had a long staring contest with Bivalo who eventually broke off screaming. Scarlet was dealing with Nimbus, Lisa went for Alyssa.

She swept her old therapist's legs out from under her and Lisa clamped her hand over the yellow eyes while they struggled. There was a pained yell, Mardon had gotten in a lucky hail ball and used the moment to launch a few more at Hartley before electrocuting the Flash.

Len saw the laser-man's eyes turn red and shot instantly; part on instinct part because of past knowledge of Simmons. Bivalo was still on the ground and Nimbus ran so he kept his gun pointed at Mardon while he spoke.

Lisa kept Alyssa's wrist twisted so that she couldn't get to her syringes and her eyes covered. "Maybe when this is over you can help me?"

Alyssa's struggles stilled and she huffed. "I'll think about it. I happen to notice your brother's wrist has turned green?" Lisa's head jerk towards Len kneeling by the Flash, she hadn't noticed anything. "If it has anything to do with the other newly green wrist I spotted today he might want to try not icing so many people."

Lisa turned that thought over in her head and in doing so loosened her grip. Alyssa's wrist twisted free and her elbow met Lisa's mouth. She tore away, eyes fully opened and raging and-not meeting Lisa's. "I'm letting you go Lisa, because I liked you. If I regret it…" She let the threat hang in the air and Lisa left quickly with her brother.

"So who's your soulmate?" She teased, noticing knuckles whiten against the handlebars and the hesitation. "Come on, I won't tell."

"The Flash."

Lisa blinked. "Well damn."

҉

Back at the Labs everyone but Caitlin was in groups of two. Joe was reassuring Barry, somewhere Cisco and Hartley were making out in a lab, she was starting to get used to that, and Felicity and Alyssa were talking softly in a corner, Alyssa's face pale as Felicity stroked her hair. It made Caitlin feel lonely and she twisted her engagement ring and wished for Ronnie.

A noise alerted the three women and Caitlin turned to the computer. "Oh no."

"What?" The lovers stood quickly and went to the monitors. "Oh no."

Caitlin hit the speaker button. "Guys, he's here."

 _ **With Bivalo's and Alyssa's staring contest I don't mean yellow and red cancel each other out they certainly don't they're still feeling the other's emotion but the emotion they have is getting in the way and what ends up happening is that Alyssa overwhelms any resistance Bivalo has becasue she can push more energy into fear, it's the up? side of always having yellow eyes, that she can change how much fear she puts into the environment thought there's always some. How much sense does that make?**_


	19. Chapter 19-Storm

**_Sorry it took so long writer's block and college. But I finished! This is the first chaptered story I've finished! Yey!_**

 ** _Anyway enjoy, please review, and I own nothing but Alyssa._**

Chapter 19: Storm:

Alyssa gripped the chair with white knuckles and wrapped the other arm around her brother who held Cisco's hand. A palm settled over hers; Felicity. Caitlin bit her lip and Cisco put a hand on her shoulder as they watched the battle between the Green Arrow, Firestorm, the Flash, and the Reverse Flash.

Lightening and fire, the silent whoosh of an arrow. Fear for their friends, Felicity and Cisco both taking comfort and keeping their lovers from going out. And then it was done.

Alyssa watched Wells's face on the camera, calm and smug. He'd hurt her brother and Cisco. He'd hurt her. He'd hurt Caitlin and Ronnie and Stein, new friends she'd grown to care for. One way or another she would hurt him.

"He told me there's a way for me to save my mom." Barry whispered.

Uncertain the group worried, words falling confused and hurting. Alyssa frowned, running her fingers over Felicity's in thought.

"Anything to say Alyssa?"

She looked up at Barry. "I hate him we all know that. I think you should be happy Barry, but don't dismiss what I'm about to say as the anger speaking. What if he figures out how to keep his speed and comes back, or if without that he decided he wants to hurt you again anyway? And time we've seen is tricky, you stop Mardon the Rogues come back to town, Cisco dies then gets kidnapped what if your mother dies later anyway? Or your father? It seems like time is going to make something similar happen." She sighed. "He confessed to murder there, right Joe?" A nod.

"It should go through if we have a recording."

"I made sure to get one. We could free your father Barry. That being said-it's your choice and as long as you let me slam a paperweight into his hand, I won't stop you."

Barry shook his head. "I need to think." Lightening blurred away.

҉

"I feel like I missed something." Hartley muttered as Ronnie ran towards Martin Stein, somewhere between worried and excited.

"Guys I'm getting married!" Cisco blinked at the excited Caitlin.

"We thought you would eventually, wait now?!" A nod. "Whoa. So that's what you missed Hartley."

Hartley nodded, then looked at Caitlin who was now mirroring Ronnie's excited-nervous state. "What do you need?"

"I don't know, I need to brush my hair but I guess that's it and we thought we'd do it today-"

"You had a wedding dress right?" She blinked.

"Yes."

"Cisco call Barry, Caitlin tell him anything you wanted for your wedding and get him to run it over." Hartley commanded.

"We don't need to-"

"It's your wedding if you want a dress your having a dress." Alyssa interrupted, coming over with her phone in hand. "Anything else?"

"While, my mother gave me her pearl necklace and told me to keep it, I wanted to wear it at my wedding."

Alyssa grinned. "Felicity, Iris, come on. We have a bride to prepare!"

Forty-five minutes later they were standing outside on the grass. Apparently Stein marrying them was "legit" so at least they didn't have to find someone else. Alyssa had a video camera on from the moment Caitlin was fully dressed till a while after, while they were all taking a few minutes to relax after the wedding before having to go back to the worry of Wells.

"When we get married we should do something like this." Felicity whispered. "Small, outside, but with lots of flowers."

Alyssa hummed beside her. "Nice to hear you say when." She replied softly.

"Well." Felicity turned, kneeling in the classic position which looked funny because Alyssa was reclining on the grass so Felicity was actually taller. "I'd like it to happen. Alyssa would you marry me?"

Alyssa's jaw dropped and Hartley quickly took the camera so that he could catch her stunned face.

"Yes!" She shot up, nearly falling over but kissing Felicity soundly. Cheers rose. Felicity pulled away with a smile.

"I have to give you your ring!" There was a moment while she searched her pockets and Cisco laughed but kindly. "Ha!" She slid it on Alyssa's finger, gold and yellow diamond. She'd told Oliver that she wanted to propose and he'd helped her find the ring.

After a round of congratulations, to the fiancées and more for the newlyweds, it was time to deal with their problems. Barry had asked Joe to send Alyssa's recording to a judge and Joe pulled him aside as he was agonizing over the choice.

"He'll go free."

It took a moment for that to go through Barry's head. "You're sure?"

"Tomorrow in court. I trust this judge, if he thinks your dad will go free he's probably right."

҉

Perhaps Wells fretted when Barry didn't have a reply till the next afternoon. No one could find it in themselves to care save for the niggling worry of his reaction.

Barry took Alyssa, who wore blue as she had begun too everyday but folded up her glasses and slipped them in a pocket as they neared the pipeline.

"Are you sure about this Barry?" She whispered.

"You were right when you told me about the risks." He replied just as softly. "I have my dad back; he's waiting for me upstairs. Joe approved. I have a family and I'm happy now. But he will do all he can to ruin it. Will you be okay?"

"Killing isn't as easy as it looks." She replied dryly. "Those I've killed I don't regret exactly, but it does weigh on me. I dream occasionally. But I offered to do this and I will."

Barry nodded. "We good Cisco?"

"Temperature's as low as it can be without him being too suspicious-probably."

"Let's do this." He opened the Pipeline.

Wells saw Barry standing next to the future Parallax, eyes yellow, and felt fear. "You're refusing?"

"I have my family."

He dropped a small sphere and ran himself and Alyssa to the back as ball exploded and the door opened.

Ice coated the floor and walls and the Reverse Flash mid run. Knowing she had only seconds Alyssa let the hate she felt for the man that had built up over the past year fill her and with only one outlet, flee.

Eobard Thawne felt yellow fear grip him deeper than the cold and he failed to escape the three bullets that landed squarely in his brain.


	20. Chapter 20-Epilogue

**_I'm done! Happy dance._**

 ** _I own nothing but Alyssa._**

Chapter 20: Epilogue:

"Hey Oliver."

"Felicity good to see you back." He hugged the blond, Diggle smiled and greeted the brunet behind her, whose yellow eyes were greened by blue glasses. She still made him nervous, but aside from that, nothing.

"How'd you manage to stop scaring people?"

"We found that if I wear a lot of blue and these glasses the effect is significantly lessened." Alyssa explained. "I'm planning to start up therapy again here with a blue room."

"Here?" Oliver asked. Felicity grinned. "I take it you said yes then?"

"Of course. And you're both invited to the wedding, which is going to be we're thinking September? No excuses." As if they would miss it.

"Oh and Oliver I was thinking maybe I'd patrol Starling a few nights? I'd like to join this vigilante club you, Barry and Batman have going."

Oliver extended his hand with a smile. "Just keep out of my way Dr. Rathaway."

Alyssa shook it with a grin. "I'd advise you to keep out of mine, Arrow. And call me Parallax."

҉

When Hartley proposed to Cisco several people won money. He did it at the midnight showing of Captain America Civil War dressed as Steve Rogers. Cisco, who was the Falcon because he really wanted to fly, wasn't quite as stunned as Alyssa and cried "Yes!" amid the cheers of numerous fans.

Eventually they decided to have a twin wedding which led to a long set of negotiations with Felicity and Alyssa who finally agreed to the Jedi-themed robes on the stipulation that the cake looked like R2-D2.

҉

"Why hello Parallax fancy seeing you here."

"Such a delight Mr. Arrow."

"Felicity if she wasn't your wife I'd think they were flirting."

"Alyssa says Oliver's the closest to Hartley's sarcasm she can get without calling her twin."

Meanwhile over in Central City…

"Barry Allen I did not need to see that!"

"See what?" Cisco asked over Hartley's coms. Barry had naturally turned his off.

"You had a hand down Leonard Snart's pants! Of all the-"

"WHAT!" That might have deafened Hartley if he hadn't modified his hearing aids to deal with the coms.

"In case you forgot Pied Piper we're in the middle of the street!"

"While run us back to the Labs so I can scold you properly then."

҉

When Iris and Eddie announced they were having a baby Joe nearly cried. Alyssa and Felicity sent them a large stuffed dragon "because we like dragons." They had to warn Cisco off making their baby any robot toys though.

҉

"Shawna. How's med-school going?"

"It's wonderful Alyssa. But that's not what I wanted to talk about. I found my soulmate!"

"Really? Who?"

"Lisa Snart."

Alyssa blinked. Well she had thought the two would get along.

When Lisa came in for their next session Alyssa gave her only a half joking threat about hurting Shawna and asked her to pass a similar message about Barry to Len.

҉

"Remember how we talked about adopting?"

"Yes. Why are you mentioning this now? Alyssa called from the closet. While she had nothing against blue wearing it did get tiring and she often changed at home after work. Coming to the living room in orange and red, she glanced at her wife.

Felicity fidgeted. "I ended up accidentally walking by a foster home and there was a little girl in the yard with blond hair playing with a wooden snake and our eyes met and I swear I felt something."

Alyssa smiled. "Well it's a good thing we both have tomorrow off isn't it?" Felicity grinned and kissed her swiftly before walking into the kitchen. "And Felicity?"

"Yes?"

"I don't believe for a second that was an accident."

҉

With their ten-year anniversary coming up Felicity decided the whole family would get together in Central for a party. No one argued.

"Uncle Cisco!" Their little blond bullet raced forward to hug her uncle. Cisco laughed, leaving Ronnie to swing Rose into the air.

Alyssa smiled at her daughter before hugging her brother. "How are your Piper?"

"Well and you Parallax?"

"Oh very well." They shared a laugh. Oliver rolled his eyes behind them.

Bell and Anna, Iris and Eddie's twins, ran to hug Rose while Caitlin and Ronnie's son August stayed back guarding his toddler sister Emma. Joe no longer watched Lisa and Len oddly, having grown accustomed to their presence after Barry came out about his soulmate's identity. Shawna, now working happily in the ER, had managed to get the day off work to join. She introduced Alyssa to James, the son she and Lisa had adopted soon after marrying a year ago. He shook her hand shyly but warmed up when she let slip that she was a pretty good hacker.

Henry Allen looked around and smiled. This was happiness. This was family.


End file.
